YooHoo!
by Yuilhan
Summary: "I'm going t-to live the rest of my life in f-fear of salt w-w-water..." Aiko Smith, a shy girl with newly dyed hair bright blue hair discovers something unusual in her university library. Discovering a past and an adventure, even if it means getting drenched every time with water. Her story begins with a book and a puddle, but will the ocean uncover answers she needs?
1. Nutty

** YooHoo!**

- An arbitrary adventure of the nautical variety -

* * *

**1. ****Nutty**

* * *

_"Dispute not with her: she is lunatic."_

**_ - William Shakespeare, Richard III_**

* * *

Slamming one particularly heavy tome onto a nearby desk, I cough as many centuries worth of dust smacks me in the face, and I get a taste of antique culture. The libraries in the university I attend are full of books like these- the curator seems to horde them all, everyone calls him 'Nut' behind his back because he's like a little squirrel, and well…a little unhinged. He's the reason why not many people occupy this vast land of fact and fiction all that often. He's probably also why people invented book stores, trashy magazines and the Kindle©, because although I do agree with Nut that books should be well maintained and all, and you shouldn't really eat or do anything imprudent in libraries like the students here do when others are trying to concentrate – no respect for university property and their surroundings, I tell you!- I however do not go round flailing spit in a slanging match and going Jackie-Chan-bat shit-crazy on each and every offenders arse like he does. Unless they severely annoy me that is, or participate in blasphemous acts like book burning or coughing obnoxiously when I'm trying to read, then I cannot control myself at all, and the wrongdoer shall _die. _

Nah, only joking, I'm too much of a wuss to commit a felony such as murder; but it doesn't stop me from shooting death glares out of the corner of my eyes under a curtain of blue. Yeah, my hair is blue. No it's not natural. A few months back before I started university my mother said I should take this opportunity to make something of myself, and stop stuttering during conversations and being a complete '_fraidy cat'_ in public and embrace the witty outgoing side that emerges when I know I'm safe and not likely to get lynched for my sense of humour, which by the way, is quite… _cynical._.. and relatively will only reside within the safe confines of my mind. Why she suggested I do this baffled me- she herself was a straight laced single mother; a strong individual with an iron clad constitution suited for her profession as a leading business woman, who looks as though she's never had a moment of weakness ever in her life. My mother wasn't outgoing herself, and I vehemently denied I was a recluse, but she wouldn't have any of it.

She then took it upon herself when I resisted, stating that I only _'wanted to get on in life'_ and '_focus on my studies'_ rather than the local social groups, to trust my hands and feet together with two of my old school uniform ties and preceded to lather my hair in electric blue dye. When I emerged from the massacre scene (blue handprints screaming down the white tiles and milky bathroom appliances from where my mother lost her balance struggling to keep my head over the bathtub) reeking of bleach and looked into the mirror, I was shocked at the deep cerulean pigmentation dripping down my body to my hips in ratted waves, and that she'd managed to splash the dye across my forehead and down my favourite pyjama top too. I screamed bloody murder that day for the loss of my dinosaur pyjamas, but as long as I live, they will never be forgotten- I've stashed them away in my empty suitcase back at my dorm room on the Uni-campus before she could throw the ruined garments away! I shall be buried in them methinks…

Thus I ended up with blue hair, which of course, was noticed by nobody; about five hundred other people had dyed their hair too- on my first day of lectures there were four girls and one spontaneous male who'd dipped his hair in a bucket of pink pigmentation. I was sat there not focusing all that well on a lecture of Maritime poetry because all I could think was we could form a McFly© tribute band and perform a flash mob of _'five colours in her hair' _in a nearby street. Needless to say, I was mortified, and if any of the others had been, I wouldn't have noticed, because I was too busy trying to colour over my hair with a yellow highlighter and hiding behind a ring bound folder to notice.

That was mainly why I was in the library right now- not because of my hair, but because of the seminar's I attended. Our current research topic was setting and how it could emphasise the narrative perspective of a text. So here I was, trawling through book after dangerously dusty book just to find something suitable to base my assignment for this module on.

Putting back the book I'd selected earlier, making sure to place it into the exact spot I'd excavated it from because Nut is a, well, _nutter_ for that sort of thing, I pull out the tome next to it- and though it be but little it's as fat as I don't know what. Seriously, can books be obese? I pull off the hoodie I'd wriggled into this morning and wrap it around my waist before inspecting the book closer:

It's a hefty little blighter, about as thick as an average human calf, bound in sagging grey leather and heavy set gold lettering so obscured by the books weather abused façade that its title may be written in a forgotten dialect- one's curiosity can't help but peak at the sight; something so battered in Nut's library? Unheard of... Mythical, actually. I flip it open to a few pages in and cough when a spray of dust is launched at my face- along with something that scratches the bared skin of my arms, which strangely looked like salt crystals. Whatever it was, I didn't really give a flip, but I can tell you it burned like hell, and I scratted at my left forearm for a good five minutes before the sensation retreated, leaving a lovely self-inflicted welt on my skin.

After that was over and done with, I finally settled down to sifting through the grainy pages, which were presented as sea-battered and tide beaten passages of slipping hand-written ink and coarse textured cartridge paper, ink blobs marring the cream colouring of the pages like a fatal blow to the books supposed flesh. From the mainly illegible scrawl nothing could be gained, until I reached about halfway through the senseless ramblings and came upon a liberated flyer- which grinned up at me, I kid you not.

It looked like an old wanted poster; unfortunately ripped in half and missing one side of its soul, but it gave me some clarity as to what I'd found on the shelf. The name of the perpetrator had been singed out, indenting the paper further, but what remained of the text accumulated to what must have been some form of bounty, I presume. There were quite a few zeros, so much so it made my eye's water, even if the currency was different to what I used to. Instead of a pound sign, there was an odd curling capital _'B'_, resembling from my knowledge of mediocre science from high school as the Greek letter Beta or _'β'_. That worried me further, because it wasn't of British origin and obviously foreign to Nut's horde of wonder aka, the library, somebody may have planted this as a wind up to the cranky tweed suit and braces wearing man up front behind the entrance desk. Popping my head round the edge of the tall ebony book shelves, I could see him meticulously stamping book cards and stacking the _'checked in'_ volumes onto a rickety trolley.

I decided to take a course of action beyond what I'd usually opt for; placing the unusual book back into place, wedged between two other thick volumes so that it didn't stand out too much, but keeping hold of the wanted poster, I stuck the slip of fragile paper under my t-shirt, tucking it into my jeans so the flyer wouldn't escape, and tugging my hoodie back over my head I tried to squirm past Nut without looking too suspect, forcedly fiddling with my back pack straps so I didn't have to stop and make phatic talk or eye contact.

The cheerful gaze of a young male adolescent, dark eyes, black hair and sun kissed skin, a quaint straw hat accompanied by a red band of ribbon circling its circumference, and a curving '_D' _shaped grin of precious porcelain teeth; wide and bright like the moon, burned a hole through my abdomen as I scrambled back to my assigned living quarters.


	2. Thief

** YooHoo!**

- An arbitrary adventure of the nautical variety -

* * *

**2****. ****Thief**

* * *

_"The robb'd that smiles, steals something from the thief; He robs himself that spends a bootless grief."_

**_-William Shakespeare, Othello_**

* * *

The second time I snuck back into the library and to the mysterious book, I brought a holdall with me. I usually did this once every fortnight when I had to collect a horde of books to analyse – thus, Nut wouldn't question me if I happened to do something 'suspect'. Since my last encounter, I'd pinned the bounty poster to the noticeboard in my dorm room with Bluetack©- trying not to injure the frail paper further. When I woke up, the boy on the poster would smile at me. When I walked past the noticeboard or tried to pin anything up on it; he was smiling. Heck, I didn't even have the confidence to get dressed in my own room anymore; choosing to layer garments onto my body in the tiny en-suit bathroom, which connected to the main body of the room and the dinky kitchenette, because of that grin. It burned into my back just below where my bra hooked together, and when I shifted uncomfortably on my feet or shuffled out of 'its' view, the sensation of being watched wouldn't leave. It drove me mad, as if this cheeky smiling persona was taunting me to go back and investigate further. So after much debating and scheming, I caved and grabbed my holdall, gnawing on my lower lip guiltily as Nut lifted a hand in greeting when I walked into the library, but didn't look up from the volume he was checking out of the library for a nervous looking student. _ Nut does have that effect on people…_

Wandering down the long isle between rows upon rows of bookshelves, I came to my junction and quickly skimmed through the books I'd need that I'd made a list of in my head this morning just before I'd left- intending for it to be a distraction to the actual task at hand, but then my punctual side took control and before I knew it I had a schedule to keep track of. With each step and scan of the shelves, I plucked out the texts I'd need and ticked them off of the hypothetical list I'd made; one particular _fascinating_ text on Marine terminology, another non-fiction book covering water currents and different climates, a small pocketbook paperback of oceanic poetry, a piece of swashbuckling prose… the next book I can to however, was directly next to _the_ book. Feeling quite the larceny, and knowing that from where he was siting about fifty metres away, Nut could probably hear which book I was selecting- and was using his ultrasonic bat-hearing to measure subtle differences of how the air shifted around it, how heavy it was due to the exclamatory grunts of exertion I would release so that he could classify the very book I'd chosen, I slowly pulled the two books out together, slowly edging them closer to the lip of the shelf and then carting them away to where I'd left the stack of the other books and my bag; the latter of which I'd left unzipped and ready. I placed the mysterious book in first, lightly assigning it down in the bottom of the bag and then whipped off my hooded jacket I'd put on this morning, so that it covered and concealed the book from Nut's prying eyes. Then after psyching myself up a little for a good five minutes, and scratting at my left arm nervously while I tried to stop the unruly shifting in my stomach- tidal waves of nausea lapping at my conscious when I thought about the many ways in which Nut, along with the rest of the university faculty, could torture me if I got caught in the act, I finally collected my pile of books and tried to casually meander to the front desk, trying to act as nonchalant as possible..

Nut stops mid stamp and whips his silver comb-ove-_erd_ head up to squint at me above his spectacles. For what the pint sized man lacked in height, he surely made up for and more with his acidic tongue and piercing _'I-am-and-**always**-will-be-watching-you'_ eyes. When he casually pats the lumpy brown argyle sweater he's wearing- minus sleeves and revealing a yellowing shirt with worn down elbow patches, I can feel perspiration gather at my temples and monstrous tsunami scaled waves of nervous shivers zip down my back.

"Oh, it's _you_" the man says stiffly as I drop the stack of tomes on the counter. Rapidly he takes each one and stamps each one and stamps a return date onto the card inside the front jacket cover, and I scramble to shove them all in the holdall. When he's done I murmur my thanks and slowly step away.

"Oi!" my heart stops and my stomach drops into the burning torments of the Earth's magma core, the sound of dangerous violins, ominous tolling bells, and a child shrieking whips past me diabolically on a torrential gust of bone-chilling wind as if the noose I'd so dangerously placed decoratively round my neck when I even considered this idea this morning, had been tightened- as if the guillotine had just dropped and the firing squads gun was detonated at point blank range. _I'm doomed…_

Hesitantly, I turn to face the head librarian, spine snapping as each vertebrae crackled from the proposed tension in the air, "What's up with your arm?"

At his simple question I inspect myself. I knew I'd been having some sort of reaction during the past few days since my last visit to the library- a large red splotch coated my left forearm not long after it had come into contact with the foreign substance that forsaken book had chucked at me when I opened it that fateful day. But seeing as the itching had subsided and my arm had been hoodie coated, I'd paid no heed to it, merely thinking it would sort itself out and if not I'd pop into the doctors later on in the week if it got any worse so they could poke and prod at my skin and if it didn't turn out to be some weird new skin cancer or just plain old Sclerosis, they'd refer me to a specialist where I'd spend my time eating and drinking complimentary biscuits and watery tea, reading crappy lifestyle and gardening magazines whilst they debated what to do with the new lab rat squatting in their waiting room unsuspectingly.

The patch on my arm had original been about the size of a curled fist, after my negligence it had nearly doubled in size, spreading in an orbicular fashion on the top of my lower arm. It looked like an extremely bad rash- deep rouge coloration and a squiggly quality to its undefined edges, so a few pain killers and some moisturiser later and I'd be right as rain.

A cough wakes me from my reverie and I stutter to answer Nut, "Oh-U-u-uh, bad r-r-reaction!"

Then I scuttled out of there as fast as I could, just faintly hearing him mutter a '_kids these days'_ and _'damn tattoos'_. I almost had the gall to snap back around and tell him to watch what he was saying because although some tattoos are beautiful, I wasn't one for becoming '_living art'_, but the fact that I had just something mildly dangerous and irrevocably out of my comfort zone satisfied me enough and I hurriedly scuttled to the lecture hall with five minutes until the seminar began, contently patting the side of my holdall and smiling demurely at the secret it held.


	3. Gary

** YooHoo!  
**

- An arbitrary adventure of the nautical variety -

* * *

**3. ****Gary**

* * *

_"Actually, I wear the nail polish to hide how grubby my nails are."_

**_- Caroline Corr_**

* * *

The guy from the first lecture I attended at the start of the year, the one with the pink hair; its unnecessary to say he is flamboyantly camp. He's also giving himself a manicure.

"Do you, like, understand any of this" he leans over me, filing away at his talons, which are glossier, even shaped and protruding a good centimetre away from the tip of his finger. Consciously, I steal a peak at my own hands; dried and cracked from turning pages like a madwoman, calloused from where I handle my pen with my dominant hand, and the nails are bitten helplessly, because I can't fathom the energy to search for a pair of nail scissors in my belonging.

The guy smacks the bubble-gum he's chewing against his lips expectantly; "Uh… S-s-sort of, I g-guess" I say half-heartedly, stutter ever present, twirling a biro between my fingers and expertly dropping it, then fumbling to snatch it back up and clumsily demolishing the books I'd gotten from the library- of which I'd removed from the holdall and stacked on the desk precariously. I'd rushed from the library to the lecture I was supposed to attend after my _oh-so_ inconspicuous rendezvous in the library. With my heart still thumping I'd thrown myself in the nearest empty seat; which happened to be right next to the flamingo haired male I'd seen in earlier lectures.

"W-w-what is it you d-d-don't g-get?" I ask him concerned, still reeling in the books that had spilt over the desk like shelf formation in front of me. They were made of flimsy wood and only about half a foot wide, so there's no reason people didn't take notes during these lectures: there was no space to actually do as such…

"Oh, like, everything…" _Sometimes, I seriously wonder why people attend university… Waste of an education… _"I mean, the poetry looked so interesting, but this is like…"

"B-boring?" I supplied as he placed his nail file down in a frustrated manner and scrunched his nose; making him look like and agitated flamingo.

"Ya." He blows a bubble with the gum and snaps it, the sounded making me jump a little.

We sit in comfortable silence as the professor drones on about poetry and the seas. Before we started this module of the course, I knew of only one maritime poem _("The Rime of the Ancient Mariner")_ and that had bored me to tears during my early high school years, and now we had a whole barrage presented to us. I had that many pieces of text floating round the twirling sea that was my consciousness that they began to sink desperately like ships in a storm.

Now feeling a little dizzy from both the poetry and the nail polish fumes- the guy next to me after prepping his nail is now coating them in _surprise surprise, _hot pink. I then begin to panic profusely, wondering if this counted as a legal high, and felt heat rush into my head at the mortification of if I could still think coherently, then I obviously wasn't on _another level_. Yet.

I raked my arm with my nails awkwardly, thinking that I had had such an idiotic thought in the first place.

"Hey are you alright?" the guy asks in his soft effeminate timbre that most camp people possess (I don't want to be stereotypical, but there certainly is a trend…)

"H-huh? Yeah w-w-why?" I ask, still scratching.

"Well your arm, isn't that sore?"

I remembered the scene from earlier, when Nut questioned me on this. This time though, when I inspect the imperfection on my left forearm, it seems more defined than before; instead of being blotchy, there's now the formation of smooth, but red-raw lines. _'T' _like constructions extends from the circular shaping; about six in total. Surprisingly though, there's no pain, it just looks excruciatingly sore.

"I-I-It's just a b-b-bad r-reaction I t-t-think."

"Well it looks horrific" the guy shudders and extends a hand to peel my fingers off from where they curl around my lower arm, "If you keep scratching it so much it'll on get worse, hun- _Jesus wept! _Your nails too!" efficiently, I am attacked by a nail file and French manicure polishes for the remainder of the lecture. I absentmindedly take notes when I get my right hand back, as we chatted about trivial topics like how in the his section dorms he's discriminated for his _'preferences'_ but how nobody picks on the guy stationed across the hall from him who has an extensive leopard print fetish.

We both sigh when an essay assignment is set for the next meeting. I'm getting sick of having to prattle about boats and starfish and whatnot, I really am, so much so, I may steal the guy next to me's nail file – I still don't know his name- and slit my throat with it. Or perhaps saw off my hands so I can't write anymore.

The room along with my fellow students moods darken when the professor assigns us this work, and several groans and sighs can be heard. I pitch a look out of the closest window, and frown when deep black clouds and a crack of thunder roll towards us.

"That escalated quickly…" the camp guys murmurs, and packs away his manicure kit in a floral case, putting it in his _'man bag'_ and then whipping out a professional looking umbrella.

"Mmm… I t-think I'm g-g-g-going to stay h-here and get a s-s-s-s-start on that essay w-while I can" _not to mention I haven't brought an umbrella with me._

"Wow that's, like, dedicated."

"N-not really, if I d-d-d-don't do it n-now, I w-won't e-e-end up d-doing it a-at all"

"That makes sense, I guess. At least you actually put the effort in. I seriously can't be bothered at all…" he mutters ominously, but then brightens his emotions significantly and gives me a strange little quirk of his lips that I presume is a smile, "I never got your name ya'know. I need to keep in touch with you too, because your nails were atrocious! I'm Gary by the way" he offers a well looked after palm for me to shake, which I accept with my own.

"… Aiko" I reply, smiling sweetly at my new acquaintance. Perhaps my mother was right after all; I did something completely unlike me today and look where it got me. Talking to someone I didn't know for a change, a manicure and a loyal beautician for the remainder of my university days, Gary and I even swapped mobile phone numbers. _How quaint._


	4. Puddle Jumper

**YooHoo!**

** - **An arbitrary adventure of the nautical variety -

* * *

**4****. ****Puddle jumper**

* * *

_"You can't tell how deep a puddle is until you step into it…"_

**_-Unknown_**

* * *

Soon, Gary departs, as do the rest of the class and the professor, who looks as though he is in need of a bitter coffee with just an extra tipple of something alcoholic slipped into the blend of coffee beans. Distracting myself from this useless display of anthropology and the slating sound of heavy rain upon fragile glass, I immerse myself into writing; only stopping when a full two pages of A4 is covered on each side in black biro scrawl and the rain has lightened to a menial '_pitter-patter'_.

Gathering my things and rubbing at my arm one last time before wriggling into my hooded top, I pat my pockets; checking I've got the keys to my dorm room and my mobile phone on hand in the pouch-like front pocket of the soft hooded sweatshirt. I adore them for their ambiguous qualities, comfort and warmth.

Making sure to switch off the lights in the room and close the door securely on my way out, I wander through the empty halls of the university. _How late did I stay?_ The time my phones supplies tells me that it is a little past six- not even the lecturers remain on site at this time. Clomping through the sopping car park right next to the main entrance, I wait patiently to cross the busy road adjacent to the main facilities of the university, the dorms of course, being separated from the lecture halls and the library- thus why I had to cross the street during rush hour. Keeping my toes behind where the curb protrudes, I stare down into a dank puddle, marvelling when someone in turn stares back up at me. The pools of water stretches down the road and I fret when a car trundles towards me at speed, waves of water rolling up from the ground and lapping hungrily at the footpath to my right. My fretting is justified when a freezing splash of water soaks my through, and part of my left arm- the place where that weird mark had surfaced burns excruciatingly, forcing me to drop to my knees as the car simultaneously stops aggravating the rainwater clogging at the side of the road.

The girl I'd found in the puddle earlier fearfully searched for the source of her reflection, the girl standing on the pavement only moments before as the puddle she resided in settled once more. But the girl was gone.


	5. Submarine?

** YooHoo!  
**

- An arbitrary adventure of the nautical variety -

* * *

**5.****Submarine?**

* * *

_"Submarine life most of the time is hours and hours of boredom with intermittent terror thrown in to keep you on your toes!"_

**_-Paul "PEP" Perris_**

* * *

When I regained consciousness, I was potently afraid of all manner of things- such as kidnap!

I was cursing Gary; thinking that perhaps the nail polish he'd used had turned out to be some kind of whacked up hallucinogenic nightmare, and that I'd been drugged, collapsing at the side of the road on my way back to the dorms; resulting in my own abduction and becoming a potential rape victim…

It was the clanging noise that arose that last suspicion; when I slapped to the ground, or what I _thought_ was the ground- I didn't dare open my eyes, I honestly thought I'd been bundled into the back of a shady van with torture equipment and other stolen personas.

When I dared to open my eyes however, that idea was demolished:

I'd landed on something- it stretched for a while, long boards of honeyed wood, smooth to the touch by the trembling skin of my palms, formed decking, and the clanging noise I'd heard was in truth, an upturned bucket. The contents of said vessel had upturned during my haphazard landing, and I could feel the formation of a handle shaped bruise forming on the back of my thigh.

_That's going to leave a mark…_

A huge soapy puddle began spreading about where I lay on the deck in shock, when a barely restrained stuttering drifted to my ears to my right. Pushing up into a sitting position, I scrubbed my hand over my face- though I have no idea why, they were as covered in soapy water as the rest of me and I was practically begging to get soap in my eyes. I spot a young man (wielding a mop) gaping beneath a bi-coloured hat and disproportionally unfashionable sunglasses, who flushes a little under my squinted scrutiny, calms himself down dramatically- flinging the mop aside, and proceeds to scuttle into an arched doorway.

Dumbfounded, I blink at where he once stood, deliberating as to whether I should follow him and interrogate him on my whereabouts or whether I should make a break for it before he and the rest of the kidnappers came back, but where would I run to? I have no idea where I am, the fact that it is now midday now I've awoken has completely thrown me- either I've been out of it for a good twelve hours or something fishy is up- and why can I smell the ocean?

The mop which he had abandoned lays not far from my feet as does my holdall, but as I move to pick the latter up, the male wearing the atrocious hat re-appears, with more people in tow.

Like the first male I had saw, the others similarly wore hats, one had the word 'Penguin' splayed across the front, and the other a white and variant spotted cap pulled low over a dark visage, who's lean and lengthy like the sheathed blade he cradles. Then something perverse appeared- a bi-pedal polar bear wearing an orange jumpsuit.

The squeal I almost released at the cute creature before me died in my throat when I released it could be either one of two things- someone in a suit, a very _very_ convincing suit, or an actual man eater that they brought out when they had _guests _over for dinner. Me, the guest, being the main course for sure.

"See! I wasn't pulling your leg!" the bi-coloured hat wearing male exclaims, pointing rudely at me, where I'm still seated on the deck, "She just came out of nowhere Captain, jumped out of the bucket!"

"Calm, Shachi…" the one wearing the white hat with leopard print spots extends a hand to the man who 'discovered' me, who stills. "Miss? … Miss? May I ask what you are doing on my submarine?"

_Miss? Me? Submarine? What the-wait? Submarine?!_

"W-w-what?" I stutter.

"I asked… what you were doing on my submarine, Miss…?" his voice is low and extravagant to the ears, like crushed velvet, but sinuous and gravelly when he trails off his syntax structures, arms crossed smugly across his chest, a hooded top revealing extravagant formations inked onto the skin I can visibly see and possibly covering more I cannot.

"A-A-A-Aiko… A-Aiko Smith…" I try and recollect myself in his presence. From the extra contextual information 'Shachi' has provided, I can deduce that this man before me is in fact the 'Captain'. I gulp.

"Aiko-Ya, why are you on my submarine? Are you a stowaway?" he takes a step towards me, so in turn, I shuffle back not restraining a slight squeak and a hitch in my breath at the motion.

"I… I don't k-k-know…" unconsciously my eyebrows knit together, mountainous ridges forming in my brow, "I w-w-was on m-my way h-h-home…" I can feel him waiting on my words, how he dares me to try and justify myself more.

"So, you were trying to escape from somewhere? Are you a stowaway, Aiko-Ya?"

"N-no! I was on m-m-my way b-back to t-the d-d-d-dorm rooms and then I- oh and t-t-the _pain!" _I roll up the sleeve of my hoodie to scrat at my arm, which in its blistering red state grins garishly up at me, more defined than ever. There is a sound of sucking in breath, and my head shoots from the blemished appendage to this strange gaggle of males… and a polar bear.

"C-C-Captain!" _Hey I thought I was the one with the stutter! _"It can't be" the one wearing the 'Penguin' hat says incredulously.

_Can't be what…? What are they so worked up about?_

"There is no mistaking it… that is our Jolly Roger…" the man known as the 'Captain' says gravely. "Bepo?"

"Aye!"

_Holy- the polar bear just talked! Thepolarbearjusttalked!-_

"_Escort _our _guest _into the sub, if you would?"

_-Thepolarbearjusttalked!Thepolarbearjusttalked!Thepolarbearjusttalked!-_

"Hi! My name is Bepo, can you stand up or do you need carrying?" the bear waddles over to me, bright orange jumpsuit and sheer fur blinding my eyes in the bright midday sun.

-_Thepolarbearjusttalked- oh my- THEPOLARBEARJUSTTALKED!_

"Um… Miss…?"

He doesn't get an answer, because I'm already passed out on the deck.

"I'm sorry…"


	6. Doctor Doctor

**YooHoo!**

- An arbitrary adventure of the nautical variety -

* * *

**6****. ****"Doctor, Doctor…**

* * *

_…Give me the news, I've got a, bad case of loving you!"_

**_-Robert Palmer_**

* * *

When I regained consciousness (again) my eyes floated upon something entirely different to when I had first woken up- instead of a clear afternoon sky, there was now dull monochrome metal glinting back at me as I squinted through uneasy and blurred vision to get a bearing on my surroundings.

"Oh, you're awake!" I flinch at the voice; the metal surrounding this whole room reverberates each intonation of the sound, amplifying it and terrifying me into teeny tiny pieces.

"Wh-where am I?" I whisper, not wanting to raise my head up and look at the voices owner.

"You're in our submarine, in the infirmary to be precise- Captain said to bring you down here so he could check for concussion, you whacked your head pretty hard on the deck when you fainted" _so I'm stuck in the contraption now… why wasn't I in it before, they're pretty stupid for kidnappers… _"There was no concussion though just a nice bump on the back of your head." _Like that makes me feel any better…_

Sure enough, when I shuffled about a bit, I could tell I was situated on a rickety cot, a thin sterilized sheet covering the lower half of my body, and the lump on my head being irritated when I shifted my skull over the solitary thin pillow provided alongside the sheet. Sniffing the air, the room had a slight tang of iodine and that habitual clinical scent that could pluck the hair out of your nostrils.

The sound of trundling feet arouses my attention from where it was once observing the room, and my head whips to glance at this other person occupying this medical space. Lo and behold, it's the bi-coloured sunglasses wearing guy from earlier, _'Shachi'_ or whatever it was…

"C'mon, if you're awake you can get up; Captain wants to speak to you." I nod but I can feel my lower lip trembling, Shachi notices and his posture softens, "It's not that bad, Captains a nice guy."

_Yeah, you just try and be threatened by the guy and see if you feel the same way afterwards… _ recalling what happened before I passed out as the 'Captain' sauntered towards me, with a blade and a talking polar bear-

"-W-What about t-t-the p-p-p-p-p-polar b-b-bear?!" I half shriek, the racket casing us to wince as it bounces off the quiet walls of the infirmary.

"Oh, you mean Bepo? He's harmless as long as you don't try anything."

_You don't sound too sure…_

He leads me out of the medical bay and along another dull metal corridor, nodding as we pass others dressed in similar white jumpsuits that Shachi himself is also wearing. I've noticed too, that they are also all wearing hats. Odd kind of people for kidnappers…

We stop outside of one particular room, down a deep dark hall way, isolated from all civilisations and a decent electricity supply.

Shachi knocks on the (guess what?) metal door, and a tired _'Come in'_ is heard from the other side. The door is pushed open, and I am shoved inside, Shachi standing behind me, I guess, so I can't make a break for it.

"You can leave us Shachi" the man himself says languidly, from where he sits with his feet propped up on a desk, crossing his arms about his chest as he reclines in his seat.

"Yes, Captain."

Nervously, my eyes flit from the door to the retreating form of Shachi, somehow wishing that he'd been told to stay. The man seemed like one presence that could keep the _'Captain'_ from acting drastically against me, and with him gone, I'm in deep shi-

"Take a seat, Aiko-Ya." I flinch when he says my name, but move to anyways to appease him.

Hesitantly, I scoot to a small stool placed next to his desk, folding my hands together when seated and twiddling my thumbs so that I don't have to watch him scrutinise me inch form inch.

"Do you mind if I call you Smith-Ya, Aiko seems too stuffy?"

"W-w-what do you m-mean? Shouldn't i-i-it b-be the o-o-other way r-r-round?" _curse you, stutter of mine…_

"Whatever do you mean, Smith-ya? Certainly this is a more informal term of address?" He seems genuinely perplexed.

"Ah, I t-think you h-have it b-b-b-backwards... Where I a-am from, o-o-our first n-n-name is f-first, and o-our s-s-surname last. S-so I'm S-S-Smith Aiko h-h-here..." I trail off nervously. _Does that mean I'm near Asia then and not Somalia?_

"How... _Peculiar_... So I was correct in addressing you as Aiko-Ya for starters?" I nod. "Hmm... Aiko Smith, I am Trafalgar Law or rather Law Trafalgar to you? I am the captain of the Heart Pirates."

_P-p-p-pirates!?_

"E-excuse m-m-me? Did y-you j-j-just say _'p-pirates'_?" My eyes must be a wide as dinner plates; first a talking polar bear and now pirates- _hat wearing_ pirates and a submarine!?

"I believe I did not stutter, Aiko-ya" he says humorously a self-satisfied smirk on his face. If I wasn't too busy hyperventilating I would have tried to kill him with the hypothetic laser beams in my eyes, but somehow, I seriously doubt I could do even that- the man is domineering and intimidating as hell; I feel that if I retaliated, I'd be killed for me impudence within 0.5 seconds of committing the act.

"B-b-but! P-p-pirates _don't exist!_ They're only in story books and rare acts of terrorism! How did I end up in _Somalia_ of all places?!" _If I find out I am now an international missing child that has been spirited away with some other poor souls just for the creep sat in front of me's entertainment or benefit (depending on whether they'll pay a ransom fee or not to get me back) I think I'm going to snap…Gary you have so massive explaining to do when I get back! _

_... If I get back..._

"Please calm down Aiko-ya, I can tell you now that pirates do exist, thrive in fact, and what is this _'Somalia'_ place you speak of? Is it an island on Grand Line?"

_Grand... Line...? That doesn't exist on a map of Earth does it?_

_Oh hell no!_

"... Aiko-ya?"

"Ohmyhodnoimnoteveninmyownworldanymore!" And with that I proceed to have a first rate panic attack until Captain Trafalgar Law slaps me once harshly across my left cheek. "Mother fu- ohmyg- ow!"

_Yep that's going to leave a very big mark...I've got two bruises on the way now…_

"Are you calm now?"

I nod sullenly, nursing an already swelling cheek.

"Can you now, in a calm and gentle decorum, as to why you were found on my submarine, and how you got there in the first place?"

I take a shaky deep breath and begin to recall the moments before I woke up in mock-Somalia.

"So what you are telling me, is that a book attacked you, you got a mark on your arm corresponding to the Jolly Roger of the heart pirates- our jolly Rodger, went to your... 'Lecture' and collapsed by a puddle then woke up on the deck of the sub and gave Shachi a fright?"

"Y-y-yes... ?" Why does that sound like a question?

"I don't believe you..." The leopard print hat he wears is now shadowing his eyes and features... He's absolutely menacing...

"Ah, here your bag…" he reaches down beside him and tosses it to me, while I'm checking the contents and placing the holdall across my body, he gives me a proposition: "I'm going to placate you, seeing as your behaviour while on board the sub has been impeccable, so I'm giving you a minute's head start. Make it to the deck and off the sub and we won't pursue, and if you don't manage to do so... Well... My operating table will have some new found company..." While he chuckles darkly, not starting the countdown as of yet, I am hurtling out of the room and up the hall, trying to recall how Shachi led me down them earlier.

Blindly turning one corner, I bump into just the person-

"Can y-y-you give me s-some h-help?! _Please_!?"

"-Uh- sure!" Shachi utters, surprised at my bedraggled appearance and stuttering terror, just waiting for Trafalgar Law to pop out from behind me at any given moment.

"Where's t-t-the d-deck?!" I'm grasping onto his white jumpsuit now, shaking him slightly to hurry up his answer.

"Use the door behind you- hey!"

"T-Thanks!" I'm scrambling away to twist open the latch on the door before he can even stop me. Thundering steps surge down the metal corridor behind me, while my fingers scramble to gather some leverage.

"Have you made it to the deck yet?" A dark utterance dominates the obscure hallways, just the sort of terrifying motivation I need to wrench the door open and pile up onto the deck then sprint towards the railings and _oh my- he's behind me!_

_Runrunrunrunrunrunrunr-_

Trafalgar Law, with his tall sinuous frame was made for sprinting, as he gathers little air resistance. He's easily catching up to me, and I'm ferociously running to those railings and what lies behind them with so much adrenalin fuelled gusto I can muster, but seeing as I was never athletic in my younger years and can trip over thin air, my progress is slow with my weary little legs compared to his lanky strides. The mark on my arm burns as I near the railings-

"You're quick, Aiko-ya!" Law shouts from not far behind me, but as if that petty compliment will stop me! I'm already flinging myself over those railings and falling madly into the unknown ocean below.

Their '_Jolly Roger'_ or whatever it was, which I so loathingly deem to be the perverse marking on my left forearm tingles when in contact with the saltwater. My body feels lighter when I plunge into cerulean depths with cornucopia of marine life, curious as to why a blue haired girl had dived into their sanctuary, and it is though as if I'm almost as if I am dissipating into the waves among the fish. It's relaxing, even if I can hear the frantic shouts of… of… the _pirates_ above the water, incredulous as to how I have seemingly 'disappeared' and that I'd have to '_come up for_ breath' sometime or other- so I ignore them, stupidly releasing my held breath; eyes widening in shock at the idiotic motion- I kick my legs uselessly trying to emerge from under the currents, but my body won't move. So I am left to reverie memories of home as I sink deeper and deeper into a murky abyss.

* * *

The Dark Doctor…

The Surgeon of Death…

Captain...

Trafalgar Law.

He was sorely confused.

The man had been intrigued when Shachi had bundled into the Navigation room aboard the sub, rambling about how a girl had fallen from the sky and landed in his bucket of soapy water. His first thought was to question whether one of his crew had finally snapped under the pressure of being at sea for extended periods of time, and if he could then conduct a… _experiment _on the unfortunate's psychosis.

Unfortunately, when he flanked Shachi, Penguin and Bepo to the sub's deck, he was both surprised and disappointed. Shachi was indeed spouting the truth, and the young Captain would no longer have a need to investigate his subordinate's mind.

To say that effectively _pissed on his bonfire_ would be an understatement.

And when the girl had noticed them? Had stuttered in fear before him? Had collapsed at the sight of Bepo? Well, that curiosity and a burning desire craving knowledge was rekindled.

Who was she, this girl that so seemingly fell right into their laps? _His_ lap… Shachi and Penguin were under the delusion that she may have been an angel, but Law thought otherwise to his women-obsessed subordinates. Why would this stranger appear from nowhere and have his Jolly Roger on their arm? Discombobulated logic swirling through his mind only proceeded to aggravate his curiosity more.

When she had escaped his macabre grasp, inexplicable anger rose through his persona, and he found himself shouting at the waves and his crew as to how _'It shouldn't be hard to lose sight of a girl with blue hair' _even if it had been his fault that she had evaded him in the first place.

Blue hair… _not her true colour, it was white blonde at the roots…_

Blue eyes… _lost under her hair…_

Stutter… it made him feel domineering watching her dance around his statements frightfully as though he were a ticking time bomb.

The clothes she wore… _boyish and hid her tiny figure..._not that he had been looking, he'd just noticed her frail physique when conducting his medical assessment on the back of her head, again, he was disappointed to find no concussion.

All in all, you could say that Trafalgar Law was completely and utterly bamboozled when it came to Aiko Smith, and she occupied his thoughts throughout the rest of the duration of their sail to Sabaody Archipelago.


	7. Mother

**YooHoo!  
**

- An arbitrary adventure of the nautical variety -

* * *

**7****. ****Mother**

* * *

_"A mother's children are portraits of herself."_

**_-Unknown_**

* * *

It felt like I'd been floating forever. It was depressingly mind-numbing, and when some corner of my subconscious recognised that sunlight was streaming through the water, my body pulled a _Flipper the Dolphin _on me and charged hastily to break to the surface.

Gasping for air whilst simultaneously wiping the hair away from where it clung to my face, I paddled over to the edge of the body of water, and pulled myself up on to the closest bank, struggling with the added weight of my bag and its waterlogged contents, I waddled away from my impromptu breach-birth onto shore and collapsed onto a bench. I'd ended up in one of the parks close to the university campus of all places.

Untangling myself from the holdalls cross body strap and removing the strands of pond weed from my fringe, I sit there reflecting on a humble park bench watching streams of light emerge from over the rooftops not far away, banishing the night. Contemplating of how I fell into another world by chance and then resurfaced in the local duck pond at just before dawn, I roll up my drenched hoodie sleeve to inspect the blemish on my arm. Unfortunately, this bizarre adventure was no figment of my imagination. Nor do I suspect, the product of a nail polish induced high, which means Gary is off the hook… just about… and if I didn't end up kidnapped or in Somalia, then where the hell did I go?

That… thing that brands my left forearm- it's no longer an unrefined blotch; grey mars the pattern forming on my skin, the crisp lines of a '_Jolly Roger'_ I believe he called it- six T shaped spores protruding from the circular edge of a grinning face.

Don't even get me started on Trafalgar Law and his cronies. The man himself is going to haunt my nightmares for some time...

With a confused and weary exhalation of breath, I unzip the flap of my holdall to examine its contents; to top off the last bizarre experiences, all I need is Nut going bat-shit crazy over a few soiled books, but to my upmost surprise, when I delve into the sopping wet container, the interior is perfectly dry and a waft of stale paper and ink fogs my nose.

Then I notice something weird- that strange book I'd found in the library, the one that had baffled me to no end with its wrecked exterior and misleading pull-out bounty poster, its front jacket which I had paid no heed to because of the scruffy presentation is embossed with _their_ mark. _The Heart Pirates. _

_Oh no no no nononono…._

I'd originally thought it was a journal, or a scrapbook (there had been a few illustrations dotted in the margins that mainly looked botanical, such as sketches of plants with the odd anatomical doodle thrown in for good measure) but if I can establish what I experienced alongside with this then it makes perfect sense for this to be the ships logbook.

_And I'm still confused as to why it is here and not with **him.** _

I must look so strange, gripping a pathetic looked volume between two clenched fists and sopping wet in the park before the crack of dawn, but who would believe me if I said I'd skipped worlds and met a madman and his followers, then was home just in time for breakfast?

It is with that epiphany which has me diving into the depths of my holdall again, searching for my mobile phone within the pristine interior- there was one person who would understand, one who wouldn't question my sanity, or at least I hope she wouldn't.

Now whilst I walked back to the dorms in my water-clogged state, checking the time on my phone (it's a little past five in the morning) and then summoning the courage to the one who would believe me. My mother.

_"Hello? Aiko? Hello?"_ she doesn't even sound tired, the years of discipline from rearing a child and working insane hours in an office environment making her permanently awake from the early hours to when she finally closes her eyes in the evening, satisfied with her days work.

"Y-y-yeah, Mum, its m-me…"

_"You're really early ringing me, is everything okay?"_ she sounds distracted, probably doing paperwork even at this hour.

"…" _I'm not sure how I'm supposed to approach this at all…_

_"…Aiko?"_ a slurping noise- she's sipping her customary morning cup of coffee.

"… I… I f-found a book in t-the universities library… It- it was really weird Mum…" There's no response to that, so I take it as my cue to continue, "I w-w-went to a d-different world, Mum…"

**_-Crash!-_**

_"I'm sorry! I just dropped my coffee!"_

_She knows something… she knows and she isn't telling me!_

"Wh-what are you n-not telling me?" my eyes narrow, even though she can't see the motion.

A sigh on the other side of the line, _"It's difficult… and it probably would be best if you were sitting down when you heard this."_ I decide to oblige this.

"Can I c-call you b-back then? I'm o-on my way to t-the dorms at the m-m-moment…"

_"Sure."_ And the call disconnects.

For once in her life, my Mother seemed on edge, and that was an extreme rarity- she was never stressed trying to juggle being a single mother, work and more work, but why all of a sudden with one question had she fallen to pieces? She was so strong, always so strong, so why now, had she decided to crack like the envisioned jagged shards of her coffee mug that she was probably collecting off the hardwood flooring, and mopping up the spilt liquid.

It takes me another ten minutes to finally arrive at the dorms, and further twenty to shower and change, dumping the soiled clothes in a washing basket that doesn't get emptied on a regular basis.

I then call her again:

_"I guess you want some answers, right?"_ _Damn straight I do… "Let's get things started by me asking you, did you find a weird object- something that didn't fit well with the surroundings it had been placed in?"_

"Uh-huh… I f-found a book. It l-looks like a log b-book..." I say confused as to where she is going with this.

_"Did anything else happen after that?"_

"It blew dust on me…?" I state, still unsure.

_"I thought so…"_ she sighs deeply, and I can picture holding the bridge of her nose between the slender fingers of one hand and the house phone in another. _"When I found mine, it was a hipflask. Scared me half to death when I got that rash on my collarbone- and the pain! Oh don't get me started on that!" _

I plop down onto my unmade bed that was provided with the dorm room in horror, "Mum… I d-d-didn't say anything about a-a rash"

She curses lightly on the other end of the line, _"But it did happen, didn't it… and then you got a mark. His mark, am I right?" _

"Y-yes…"

_"So who is it? Who's the lucky fellow?" _

"_Excuse me?!"_ my stutter is abandoned from the shock, "S-shouldn't you be giving _me _answers?!"

_"I guess I should… Hmm… where to start…"_

"From the b-beginning would be nice…" I mutter in irritation, and she scoffs.

_"Look at what university has done to you, three months ago you wouldn't even dream of answering back like that-"_

"Mum."

_"-I mean, not that I'm not loving your change in confidence, was it the hair that did it? Have you made friends at all-"_

"Mum!"

_"Okay, okay. From the beginning. Yes. Right…"_ another sigh. _"When I'd just finished university and left, with my degree into a world where my qualifications barely stood for anything, I first got a job at a small office not far from where we lived as you grew up."_ I squiggle a little on my makeshift seat, settling in for a long story.

_"On my way home from work one day, back to the place I was staying in at the time, I found a silver hip flask in the middle of the footpath. Like you, I was curious, and picked it up, carrying it with me to my apartment. When I opened it, dust flew out and got into contact with the skin around my collar bone. It burnt, didn't it, when it happened to you too?"_

"Yeah... My a-arm wouldn't stop itching."

_"And then a Jolly Roger formed on the skin in the same area afterwards right?" _

"Yes…"

_"So, as I was saying"_ she clears her throat gingerly, _"I didn't pay any attention to it until a face started forming, and then some weeks later I got caught in the rain without an umbrella. The salt water, when it comes into contact with the mark, it does something, warps boundaries, which is why we end up going to a separate dimension to ours. You can blame this on your Grandmother, I believe- after so many years of speculating; and trust me I've thought about this for many many years, that she was originally from that world, don't ask me how she got across here, I have no idea, but it would explain a lot, like the drive for us to return there at some point in our lives."_

I had never met my Grandmother; she had passed before I was born, when Mum was in her late teens. My Grandmother had never married, and neither had my Mother, which I found very suspect as a child because other family units I would see during the daily trundle of life would have a full house; a mother, a father, one or two children, a pet, and they would do family things together. I found it distressing when I was younger because I did not have this experience, and although she did a darn good job at raising me single-handedly, my Mother simply couldn't play two rolls at once.

_"Aiko? Are you still listening?"_

"Yeah, I a-am…" _I still feel terribly confused though…_

_"Right, where were we? Ah! Well, after being caught in the rain, I woke up in the strangest of places. I wandered around for a bit until I ran into some people, hoping for directions, I asked them if they knew where I was. When they replied with some foreign sounding location that obviously didn't exist on a map, I was scared- and they knew it. They called themselves the 'Roger' pirates, after their captain, Gol. D Roger, and allowed me to stay with them until I got my bearings on the ship or found an inhabited island that suited my tastes. Are you with me so far, Aiko?"_

"Uh-h-huh…"

_"It was during that time on their ship I fell in love, with a man named Rayleigh… Don't look at the wall like that like you're looking at me in scorn,"_ _How did she know I was doing that? "I was young, and foolish, and I should have known it wouldn't work, you know with being from a different world and all, but it didn't take long for an attachment to form between the two of us. Even when I jumped back and forth from world to world over the years I spent with them, I could never fault their unwavering joy and loyalty to Roger, even with all the trials they had been put through, it made us bond even more. I was captivated by them. It was so wrong, he was the first mate on the ship, he needed to be committed to his job one-hundred percent, he was a lot older than me too, but in retrospect we were both still so young, and even though it was wrong of us to be so selfish, I could never regret it. Ever."_

"Why n-not?" _I'm going to regret asking this… I just know it…_

_"Because I had you."_

Something unknown clogs up my throat. I think it's the fact that I do have a father, the one I had been missing throughout all of my life, but he was living his life away _in a different dimension!_

"A-and you n-never m-married, because of h-h-him?"

_"Partially, I guess. Again, I was naïve, I was compelled by the notion that one day he would stumble across this world after I had returned here and we'd spend our days happily as a family. However, as you got older, and he didn't show up, I gave up… part of me still hopes to see him again one day, but I guess my time of inter-dimensional travelling is up. I never got the chance to go back because I was so busy with working and attending to you- I couldn't just up and leave; I was a mother."_

Thinking about all of the loneliness she must have been experiencing, the abandonment, and the confusion… it clutched at my heartstrings. Earlier I was so selfish, I resented her for not being the norm, but how could I expect her to just up and settle with any old man when her heart obviously belonged to someone else far far away.

"What w-was his f-full name, Mum. My Dad's, t-that is…"

_"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to ask me this…"_ She sounds as though she is on the verge of tears, _"His name was Silvers. Silvers Rayleigh."_

"Is it why I am c-c-called Aiko?"

_"Yes, you were our little 'Love child'…"_ her voice is wistful, and I feel the need to separate myself from this delicate conversation, and leave her to her memories in peace.

"I'm g-g-going to h-have to go n-n-now Mum, I've got a-assignments to do…" I lie smoothly.

_"Ah, can I ask two things of you before you go?"_

"S-sure…?"

_"What is his name? The one you ran into when you were over there?"_

"Trafalgar Law… He…He s-scares me Mum…"

_"I can understand sweetheart, I was scared too. It gets easier the more times you cross. Okay, last thing before I go, remember I said that if you come into contact with saltwater, you jump the boundary? Well, if I give you a letter addressed to Ray, can you somehow get it to him for me please? Check your email tonight and get it printed off and into an envelope. If you keep it one you at all times, it will cross with you when you do."_

"Okay… I-love you."

_"I love you too…"_


	8. Green tea and Bubble bath preferences

**YooHoo!**

- An arbitrary adventure of the nautical variety -

* * *

**8. ****Green tea and bubble-bath preferences**

* * *

_"Honestly, if you're given the choice between Armageddon or tea, you don't say 'what kind of tea?'"_

**_-Neil Gaiman_**

* * *

_"Nureru watashi wa ame…"_

_("I am drenched, I am the rain…")_

**_-Kasane Teto, 'Yoshiwara Lament'_**

* * *

By the time we have finished talking, its six in the morning, and my little dabble in another dimension and staying up for longer than normally necessary is definitely catching up with me, but as I am one of those people that never falls back to sleep once they are awake unless knocked out cold or ill, or sleep deprived for a _week_, I know that trying to get some rest now would turn out to be absolutely fruitless, not to mention that in just over four hours there is yet another lecture on maritime poetry I'll have to attend.

So instead, I pad over to the kitchenette and boil the kettle, dropping a mundane tea bag into my mug and mulling over the news my mother has shared with me now after so many years of keeping it to herself.

_I have a father… An actual father…_

Granted he's in a different world altogether, and probably doesn't even know I'm born, or if Mum is okay after all these years- and he might already be married and have kids of his own- or be dead already-

The kettle flicks off, exhaling a tuft of steam at my nose and distracting me from my sour turning thoughts. I fish the tea bag out of the chunky mug languidly with a spoon, adding a splash of milk from the carton in the fridge and assessing the taste of my brew with a small tentative sip.

Satisfied, I wander back to my bed, debating whether I should go to the lecture of just` laze about for just this one day. _I could always call Gary and ask him to take notes for me…_

Then again, staying in bed all day would be counter-productive, if I'm up already I can certainly manage to get into the lecture, even if I do feel like I've been hit by a truck and hardly conscious.

_Maybe I'm dreaming this all up…_ I wonder, leaning my cheek on to my palm.

"OW!" I'd leant on the side of my face where Law had slapped me. _At least I know that it was real then… That also means I'm going to have a bruise in the shape of a bucket handle somewhere on my body…_

With nothing else to do, I pick up the Heart Pirates logbook, and begin skimming through it, determined to learn something about the sadist who found me on his submarine.

From what I can gather, the pages are mainly an illegible scrawl denoting the trials and tribulations of life on the seas, the places they graced with their presence- obscure names of islands I have never heard of in my life ever before, the items they found and pilfered; there were a few scattered diagrams of the panorama, flora and crude doodles of treasure troves. When I came across one entry, a few things fall into perspective; Trafalgar had methodically listed twelve- from what I can fathom from the scrawl, extremely dangerous fellows of which he named the '_Supernova's' . _Each had half a page dedicated to them- mainly empty except for the name and a few odd facts, a part from two in particular; Eustass 'Captain' Kid and 'Mugiwara' Monkey D. Luffy.

Identifying the foreign terminology on the page, I fire up my laptop, a desire to know what this '_Mugiwara'_ thingy means and cringing when my better judgment indicates it could be something completely inappropriate.

Luckily for me, it turns out that '_Mugiwara'_ when translated, means '_Straw Hat'_.

_How quaint… wait! Straw hat?!_

My eyes flick to the wanted poster still displayed on my noticeboard, the obnoxious grin of the dark haired boy below his red-banded straw hat stares back, making me feel seriously perturbed.

_It's truly dangerous… truly and utterly dangerous in that place. If they have wanted posters for… for _pirates_... oh gosh… _

It's not like I can't even say '_no_' to skipping dimensions either, trying to avoid getting in to contact with salt water for the rest of my life would prove to be worthless. And how odd would it be if one day I went waltzing down the street in a freak rainstorm and suddenly disappeared?

While I contemplate the dangers of my new found abilities, I made sure to check my emails and print out the letter- its more like a small novel by the time the printer stops, and place it in a folder in my bag for the day. Time slips away, and startled the next time I check the clock, I'm going to have to run for my lecture for certain.

* * *

"My _gawd_, that was boring…" Gary groans as I collect my things and stuff them into the small tote bag I've brought with me today, "How do you cope with taking notes through it all? You're inhuman I swear…" he shudders delicately then inspects his now baby pink nails; he's redone them again during the lecture.

"I m-make notes b-b-because I'm forgettfuuuuuuulll" the latter half of my sentence is cut off by a huge yawn on my behalf.

"Wow, how much sleep did you get last night? You look shattered, hun. Never pegged 'ya for a night owl!" he giggles, high and reedy through his nose.

"N-none…" I sigh regretfully, missing my precious eight hours that I get usually.

"'_None'_?! How are you awake?" he exclaims.

"I d-d-don't really k-know… I had t-t-things to t-talk about w-w-with my M-Mum… I guess w-we got c-c-carried a-away."

"I bet you did, to be up all night… I'm guessing it was important…"

I bite my lip, debating whether to tell my only acquaintance at the university- excluding Nut, because he is not from my generation and people who are part of the faculty don't truly count- my life story and the interesting revelations revealed to me over the last few days.

As if noticing my apprehension, Gary waves a hand dismissively, "You don't have to tell me if it's too personal…"

"N-n-no! I want t-to t-t-t-ell you… I… It's j-just I'm having d-d-difficulty wrapping my h-head r-r-round it m-myself…."

We walk out of the lecture hall and the bustling corridor comfortably keeping pace with one another, Gary's long-legged stride matched by two little steps of my own to keep abreast with the effeminate male.

"Do you want to go and get a coffee or something, and then talk about it? I know this nice little place just on the way into town not far from campus."

"S-sure!" I grin up at him and he pats me on the head affectionately, then seems to realise what he's done.

"Sorry" he says sheepishly, "You reminded me of my little cousin then, she's always so smiley that you can't help but gush over her…"

"I-It's f-f-fine…" I say to reassure him, "I just w-wasn't expecting it, is a-all."

We natter about menial things on the way to Gary's little café, mostly him complaining about the work load the professor's give to him and the daily prejudice he receives from his side of the dorm, with the occasional input on my participation to console his woes .

Reaching a whacked out corner space on a ditsy narrow street, Gary leads me through a peeling red-painted door and into a… _jungle? _ Wait, no it's the café, it's just buried under so many potted plants and tie-died walls that I can't see it.

A Jamaican woman who looks to be in her forties, with greying dreadlocks and multiple facial and ear piercings nods at us from behind a squished counter overflowing with uncoordinated cups and saucers, silver spoons, trays and teapots, whilst polishing a gleaming cake knife with a polka-dotted dishcloth.

"Hiya Jan!" Gary wiggles his fingers enthusiastically in greeting to the woman.

"You back again boy?" she says with a deep rooted accent.

"Ya, and I brought a friend this time too" he pulls me next to him, wrapping an arm loosely round my shoulder.

Jan grunts, "Same as usual." It's more of a statement than a question, to which Gary nods. "What'll you have, Blue?" _Blue? Who's tha- oh my hair… Really original nickname there…_

"…Er…" I can't see a menu anywhere.

"Speak up Blue, I may look younger than most but that doesn't mean my hearing is what it used to be!" she snaps at my indecision.

"D-do you s-s-serve t-tea?"

"Green tea, yes." _Nothing… more conventional?_

"T-that'll d-d-do…" she sets about making our orders while Gary ushers me to a table in the far corner of the space, isolated from the other seating areas by a wall of tangling plant limbs that crawl across the back of chairs and up walls.

When we are seated and Jan had dumped a tray carrying out drinks harshly on the table before storming back to her counter, which made me jump.

Gary chuckles a little at my skittish behaviour before we settle down to _'chat'._

"W-what would y-you do… if you w-w-were only r-r-raised by y-your Mother… b-but then g-got t-told after n-nineteen y-y-years that y-your Father was a-alive?"

"…" Gary stares down at his black coffee, swirling the cup between his palms smoothly and watching the liquid dance against the pristine white sides of the vessel. "I… Is that what you and your Mother talked about?" I nod, "Then I would try and reconnect with him after finding him of course…"

"W-what if you c-c-couldn't do t-that though…"

"Ah…" he scratches his head and takes a sip of bitter coffee, "Then I would feel disappointed but satisfied to know that he was alive and well, even if I couldn't see him."

Gary is an amazing person. Unknowingly, he has solved my problem. Of course, I have a means of contacting Silvers Rayleigh, but no starting place for my quest. In a world where I do not know my bearings or can solidly find a map, I will have no chance of finding just one man- it's like searching for a needle in a haystack.

I try a slurp of green tea and roll my nose up in disgust- it tastes like watered down grass clippings.

"Shit!" I nearly spill my tea as Gary slams a fist onto the table in annoyance.

"W-what?"

"The guy from my dorms- y'know the one with a leopard print fetish?" I nod, placing my cup on the table distastefully, "Well not only do I now know he's a freak that bathes in saltwater-" _Oh that does not bode well for me in the future- "-But he's about to walk in here!" _Gary panics. I ask him how he knows to which he answers _'From where I am sitting I can see the whole street! What am I still doing here?! He hates me! Bye!' _slaps a few coins onto the table and is gone from the café before I can blink.

"Ba-bye, boy" Jan utters sarcastically, coming to collect his coffee mug and money. I root in my tote bag for some petty change and dismiss myself, passing the leopard print obsessed guy in the doorway. We do an awkward little dance where neither of us choose a different side of the door to pass through, and it takes a couple of tries for us to eventually move out of each other's way.

"Sorry" he burbles darkly, shoving past me and into the mass of crawling plants I'm trying to escape from.

_Arsehole, _I think crudely, rubbing the spot on my shoulder where his bony frame connected. All of that leopard print is making me think of a certain pirate captain, and that is not a good thing. At all.

Distractedly, I meander back to the dorms, not paying attention to the maelstrom of swirling grey clouds overhead. When a splitting cry of thunder penetrates my hearing I wither a little inside- it had been sunny only a little while ago, and I'd left for my lecture in a three-quarter sleeved t-shirt, optimistic that it wouldn't rain today and ignoring the darkening Jolly Roger on my arm.

How wrong I was when a shower came down quickly coating all it came in contact with- including me.

I am dissipating into nothing before strangers on the street can register my sudden disappearance or do something about it- some not even noticing one less presence around them go about their daily lives without so much as a care.

_It's a good thing I have that letter with me… _is the last thing I can think before I'm truly swept away by the rain.


	9. Sabaody Archipelago

** YooHoo!  
**

- An arbitrary adventure of the nautical variety -

* * *

** 9.****Sabaody Archipelago**

* * *

_"Maybe nothing in this world happens by accident. As everything happens for a reason, our destiny slowly takes form..."_

**_-Silvers Rayleigh, One Piece_**

* * *

Silvers Rayleigh enjoyed his secretive life on Saboaody Archipelago. It was an interesting way to spend ones time; wandering through the numbered groves, smiling at cheerful tourists and pirate crews new and old, watching the bubbles dance, taking a satisfied sip from his hip flask, get caught by slavers, end up at a human auction house, use a burst of Haki to knock out weak-minded bidders and guards, pilfer any spoils they had in their pockets, and be on his way back to Shakky in time for another re-fill of his flask and a well-deserved break before repeating the cycle.

However, when the slavers that day brought in a sobbing mermaid and an unconscious blue haired girl, he couldn't help but feel some anticipation to be out of Grove One and not be back for some time.

He had lived a while, and it showed, his strength and ability to escape this awful place of broken men and women bought like play things in a toy shop by nobility, was unperturbed most of the time, but today, something felt strange and he didn't enjoy the bubbling worry coursing through his conscious.

The mermaid wouldn't stop crying, lashing out when they tried to restrain her and snap the explosive collar round her neck, but it was futile and she was shoved in the holding cells just like the rest of them.

The girl with blue hair, still unconscious had been unceremoniously collared and dumped near the railings, her cuffed relaxed arms slapping against the metal bars and creating an disturbing symphonic that resonated through all of the abducted personnel. She still refused to wake up, until Disco – the auctioneer, had her removed from the holding cell so he could gather her personal information, slapped the blue haired girl awake, right across where another mark marred the youthful pallor of her right cheekbone. She yelped, eyes a startling shade of baby blue, much lighter than her hair, which Rayleigh could tell was not her true colour- blonde was seeping through at the top of her scalp.

"Nice to see you are awake. Normally I wouldn't go to such lengths to wake someone up, but you sleep as soundly as the dead, my dear" he says smarmily as she cradles the sore side of her face, "It's not good to damage the merchandise, but you were already blemished, not much we can about that, so long as the other side of your face is clear we should get a nice price for you!"

"P-price?!" the girl stutters quietly.

"Yes, do you happen to know where you are?" the blue haired girl shakes her head, "You're in Grove One of Sabaody Archipelago, the human auction house to be more specific…"

The blue haired girl whimpers, eyes watering. She touches her arm, unconsciously scratching it until it pains her to do so and the scratching ceases.

"Now, if you wouldn't mind answering a few questions for me?" Disco presses, and the girl albeit unsure to answer but knowing her predicament nods, "Name?"

"A-Aiko Smith." _Where have I heard that surname before? _Rayleigh thinks to himself, _Why does it seem so familiar… my memory isn't what it used to be…_

"Age?"

"N-nineteen…"

"Lovely, young and beautiful, just how the World Noble's like them! Now, any talents you have? Are you a singer? Can you cook at all? Juggle?" with each shake of the girls head, Disco is fervently trying to find a redeeming quality in the child. "Can you do _anything at all?_" he spits angrily as his questioning turns out to be fruitless.

"I c-c-can recite p-p-poetry…?" the girl asks almost unsurely.

"Finally!" Disco groans in triumph, scribbling the little fact onto his notes. He stops sharply; "What is _that_ on your arm?" he points to the one she had been scratching furiously earlier on.

"B-bad r-r-reaction…" she mumbles almost innately.

"That looks like a Jolly Roger to me" he accuses.

"I said it was a b-bad reaction!" the girl yelps, and she is backhanded on the same place once more for her insolence. Once unshed tears from earlier now trail tracks down her face, following the small stub of her nose and the contours of her cheeks, collecting in glistening pools at the indentation of the corners of her lips and the shape of her chin.

"Silence! I am feeling generous today, but mark my words, if you so much as ever raise your voice to me ever again, I will not hesitate to detonate the explosive collar you are wearing. Am I understood?"

Face gravely pale, she nods in submission, trying to control her sniffling as she is shoved back into the cell with Rayleigh, the Giant beside him and the weeping mermaid along with all the other _merchandise._

Yes, Silvers Rayleigh had plenty of experience for his years, but he hadn't seen the mark on the girls arm before in his life. Perhaps she was a pirate?

_But she's too meek for that…_

He couldn't make head nor tail of the girl sat isolated inside the cell before him head bowed in dejection, and he didn't like the whirring feeling inside of him either.

Instead of questioning if she was okay however, he slipped out his hipflask and took a long sip of sake, savouring the sting of the alcohol down his trachea like the girl would feel the prickle of the slaps she had received across her already red cheek.

* * *

It was needless to say that I wasn't happy.

I'd got caught in the rain on my way back from the café, and woke up on some pastel town; I'd watched bubbles dance delicately around me, got up and wandered around a bit trying to gather my bearings and then stupidly tried to step in when a woman- _with a fish tail- _was being abducted.

Unfortunately, my act of kindness had backfired, because I got knocked out and dragged along with the fish-woman, woken up rather rudely by a man with no taste in sunglasses, slapped again because I couldn't hold my tongue, and chucked in a cell wearing an explosive dog collar.

Really, I couldn't have been any better. _Not._

Now I was in an auction house, going to be _sold_ to some sweaty old man somewhere that would ogle perverted-ly and grope me at any chance he got and _why won't that fish woman stop crying?!_

Taking a closer look, I recognise her as the one I was trying to stop being abducted, and a fat lot of help I was getting dragged along with her.

Scrubbing at my eyes tiredly, tears dried up now after the stinging in my cheeks had forced them to spill- the glasses man's eyes shining at the thought of making me cry with his false bravado I'd seen directly through, I got up chains clanking as I walked over to the distraught woman and knelt beside the crate she perched on.

"Hey…"

She starts at my voice, whipping her hands to wipe the falling tears quickly from her eyes, only for them to be replaced and spilling from her tear ducts as fast as she can wipe them away again.

"Hello…" she murmurs back weakly.

"M-my name is A-Aiko S-Smith. It's nice t-to meet y-you, I g-guess, g-g-given the c-circumstances." I rub my neck as well as I can with the chains restricting me in a nervous fashion.

"My name is Keimi" she replies, with a small wilting smile that makes me want to pet her head like Gary had done earlier that day to me.

Gingerly, I extent my hand and grasp hers, hauling myself up on the crate beside her with a grunt and drawing my knees to my chest. _Might as well make the most of the situation… _

"W-what's it l-like having a f-fish tail?"

It takes her a while to answer me, her shoulders sagging as she thinks, "At the moment, it's a blessing and a curse. It's nice to be free and swim along the ocean bed with the fish and Pappug and Hatchan… but now, being trapped here and being sold, just because I'm a mermaid… it's awful!" she sobs.

Feeling that I've only inflated her depressed attitude further, I've now decided to keep my mouth shut when confronting upset people in the future and wrap an arm around the mermaid, petting her back lightly in an attempt to calm her down.

There is a commotion, and before I can do anything to stop it, Keimi is grabbed from beside me and dragged unwillingly to the glasses-guy that slapped me earlier, then slapped by the glasses-guy herself (I wince because I can still feel the impact on my cheek too) when she tries to rebel, and is then thrown in a large condescending fish tank if to only add insult to injury, then wheeled away out of view.

I start to worry, pacing along the cell, as screams emancipate in the distance. Two burly men drag a large man trailing blood past us all, murmuring lowly about _'disposing' _of _'it'_. I shudder, staring at the crimson line that is so stark against the cool contrast of the floor and walls until someone comes to clean it up.

Then there a more crashes and shouts of indignation floating our way, and I turn to face those who are trapped in the cell with me with wide worried eyes. I'm surprised to see the greying haired male has already freed himself from his collar, and is working on the giants beside him, tossing the lethal metal away from him and to the corner of the cell where it implodes, making a nice swift exit for the two and the rest of us captives.

The two make their escape, leaving me gobsmacked and feeling jaded that he didn't offer to free me too. But I swallow that feeling when a heavily built male with a metal nose, hair a brighter blue than mine, interesting taste in shirts and a Speedo© (_Ohgodmyeyes!) _sprints past and chucks a bunch of keys to the nearest captive, muttering about going in that direction to get our belongings back, before racing off.

I wait as patiently as possible for the keys to be past my way, and after some jiggling, I'm free and following the rest of the captives to retrieve our belongings. After some scrambling, I found my tote bag, but instead of following the rest of them through the rear exit like I was probably supposed to, some small wisp of shallow curiosity tells me I should go and see where the guy who freed us and the old man and the giant went.

So I do, walking down a passage that reminds me of what lies behind the stage at a theatre, I follow it until I reach the wings of a large brightly lit stage. Shuffling nervously forward and poking my head around the drawn back curtain, I watch as the silver haired man from earlier mysteriously loosens Keimi's explosive collar with a touch of his fingertips, marvelling at the chaos that lies around them. Ungracefully, I squeak as it is thrown near me and dart out of the way of the wretched metal as it detonates- flinging myself at Keimi's fish tank with as much gusto I can muster. The man continues his conversation with someone in the audience:

"That straw hat of yours certainly suits a fearless man such as yourself. I've been waiting to meet you, Monkey D. Luffy!" he grins wildly to the person in the isle between rows and rows of opulent red seats, who comes into view, straw hat and all.

_I think my brain is going to give in_; "M-Monkey D. L-Luffy…." I say quietly to myself.

"Eh? Who are you Jii-san?" the boy in question says casually, taking one step at a time closer to the stage with clenched fists.

"How can you not know who that is?" A deep voice growls menacingly from the back of the auction house, "That's-"

Keimi has noticed me, twirling round in her fish bowl, "Aiko-chin!"

"Aiko-Ya?" _Oh shi- there's only one person I have encountered who gives me the suffix of '-Ya'…_

"-The Dark King, Silvers Rayleigh. Who would have thought we'd have run into such a big shot here…" the menacing voice finishes.

"I prefer to go by Ray-san now, the old-coater, around here. Please don't call me by that name."

"Rayleigh…?" I say quietly to myself as they continue their discussion.

"Aiko-chin? Are you okay? You're shaking…"

_I found him… I've found him on the first go…_ I think I may break out into song in a minute. Or weep tears of joy.

"Oh! Y-yeah I'm f-f-fine, lets g-get you o-o-o-out of there, okay?"

"Allow me to help with that" the guy with the keys from earlier says, grabbing a pair of step ladders off the floor and gently lifting Keimi out of her glass prison.

As soon as she's released, she murmurs her thanks and requests something of the one cradling her in his arms, "Can you take me to Hacchan please, Franky-kun?"

With nothing better to do, I follow them off of the stage and up the steps to where the others crowd a midst a display of unconscious figures, digging through my tote bag to find the file containing my Mothers letter.

_There is no mistake; he's definitely Silvers Rayleigh… I can't not let him read this…_

I try not to rumple the folder between my shaking hands, but with each nearing step apprehension makes my knees weak, wondering if he'll accept this or disown me…

"Hacchan!" Keimi squeals as she is placed down next to the _octopus man?! What the hell?! _"Hacchan! You got hurt…" the waterworks start up again, but I don't move to console my new friend. For one, Hacchan the octopus man is doing a great job as a oceanic tissue, and secondly, I've got something very important to do.

Steeling myself with a deep breath, I walk over to where Mugiwara Luffy and… and my Father stand, but before I can do anything, a voice calls from up above and interrupts mw mid-step.

"It's nice to see you again, Aiko-ya. I trust you got off my sub and to safety?"

"H-hello… a-again… Mr Trafalgar." _Man he's scary... _I shudder slightly.

"Where on all of the Grand Line did you disappear to, Aiko-ya? It's been bothering me all week."

"H-Home." I say simply with a shrug and continue with my quest before he can interject again.

There is a murmur in the air as I near them, something about Marines surrounding the auction house. Luffy bounds away, up the steps his companions flanking him, and I'm left alone with Rayleigh.

Tugging on the sleeve of his cloak, I draw his orbicular glasses framed gaze down to my small height, wordlessly handing over the folder and waiting patiently to scan through it all. His eyes widen slightly and meet mine over the top of the folder, gaping silently.

"I… I k-know this isn't e-e-e-exactly the m-most appropriate p-place to m-meet… To be h-h-honest, I never t-thought I'd f-find you a-a-as quickly as I d-d-did… It's n-nice to f-finally m-meet you… _Dad._"

The grinning silver haired man from earlier, so sure of himself and swapping formalities with terrifying people in the room is replaced a fragile weakened soul who daren't move the slightest inch. My brow creases a little, gaze dropping to the floor.

_That's it… he doesn't want to know me…_

I try to take a step back, but a large hand on my shoulder stops me from running anywhere.

"Rowena never said she was pregnant."

"I don't t-think she k-k-knew either, until she c-couldn't get b-back to you."

"I… I don't really know what to say."

I smile sheepishly, "I k-know the feeling… I've n-n-never had a f-father figure i-in my life… I d-d-don't know what to d-do."

He closes the folder sharply, "She never met anyone else?"

"Mum? Oh… N-no. She r-raised me s-s-single handed all b-by herself. To be t-truthful with y-y-you, until a few d-days ago, I wasn't aware t-this place existed…" I say in wonder, "That y-you existed."

"I bet it came as a shock, huh?" he says, a small smirk playing about his lips.

"Y-yeah. When I f-fell through a-a p-p-p-puddle, I got t-the surprise of m-my life."

The auction house is now deserted. Well, apart from us and the unconscious people in the rows.

"We'd better get a move on. We don't want Mugiawara to leave us behind or get captured by the Marines." He grabs my hand, his palm encasing the limb entirely in a secure grasp. I clutch back, fervently holding on to my new found Father for dear life and unwilling to let go any time soon.

When we reach the outside, its pure pandemonium, men in crisp blue and white uniforms being flung about the place, as we stand on the chunky stone steps to the entrance watching the chaos unfold.

When it seems like the brawl has stopped, the group collected by the entrance to the auction house shuffle awkwardly away from the building, forming three respective groups, each seemingly following the three who had been battling the Marines. Two of which I can identify as Luffy and Trafalgar Law- the latter much to my dismay. They bicker over something, Mugiwara insinuating something that irate the other two.

Rayleigh- _Dad_, chuckles and let's go of my hand, walking over to Franky who's still holding Keimi and the injured Hacchan who squats tiredly by the steps, swooping the latter up onto his back to prevent his wounds from effecting him any further.

"We'd better get back to Shakky's" he states, "C'mon Aiko, we've got a lot of catching up to do!"

Before I can move a step in their direction however, a suave, dark voice I have come to hate rings clear of fading battle cries, the clang of blade meeting blade and gunshots:

"Room…"

A blue sphere encases me, and I cannot move. Frozen to the spot with fear as an arm wraps itself around me, tugging me away from what could be, the start of a familial relationship, and uproots me for good.

"I think that it is you and I who have a lot of catching up to do, isn't that right, Aiko-ya?"

I can't help it. I scream. I scream for my Dad, for help, for anyone!

Pressure against my neck.

Then… nothing but black.


	10. Sadist

**YooHoo!**

- An arbitrary adventure of the nautical variety -

* * *

**10****. ****Sadist**

* * *

_"The world needs sadistic people like me. If there were none of us you would never be happy because you would know no sadness."_

**_-Patrick Burn_**

* * *

I think that waking up in unknown places after being knocked out is becoming a habitual thing for me at the moment. When I open my eyes, the surroundings are rather familiar. I'm in the infernal medical bay of Trafalgar Law's submarine.

Right now, I have a newfound hatred for the man in question- as I replay what had happened earlier.

He's ripped me away from my Father, who I had just found after not knowing I even had one. Does the captain of the Heart Pirates enjoy my misery or something?

Listlessly, I sit up on the rickety cot in the infirmary, surprised that no one is watching me sleep from the corner and making sure that I don't make a run for it.

I slide out of the gently putting my feet on the floor and wincing as bare skin comes in to contact with a cold metal surface. _When were my shoes taken? And my bag!_

With growing tension knotting my stomach into pretzel- like constructs, I pad over to the exit of the room, tugging on the handle and finding it locked.

I rest my head against the door in dismay- _just my luck…_

Suddenly the door swings open, hitting me square in the nose "Mother fu-!"

"Oh, Aiko-Ya. Nice to see you are awake. I would suggest that in future that you don't purposely stand behind doors." _Ha bloody Ha, you twisted man._

"I-It's not a-as if I'm a m-m-masochist, Mr Trafalgar. I d-d-don't set out to b-b-be injured-regularly!" I say as benignantly as possible.

"I'm sure you don't Aiko-Ya. But I do believe you must have some masochistic quality in you- after all, you keep running into _me_." He states, "Please take a seat on the cot so I can ask you a few questions…" he gestures to the cot I'd just escaped from. Angrily I do as he asks, and he smirks; "Good… Now let's begin. Full Name?"

"Aiko Smith" he's gathered a clipboard and started scribbling on a little form.

"Age?"

"N-nineteen" he stops writing and raises and eyebrow at me, "W-what?"

"It's nothing, you just look younger… Height?"

"F-five foot t-t-two…" and he mutters '_tiny_' under his breath.

"Blood type?"

"O."

"Would it be imprudent of me to ask your weight? In kilograms, preferably".

"The l-last time I w-w-w-weighed myself I-I was f-five s-s-stone, I t-think."

He jots that down but scrutinises me uncomfortably, "So around thirty-two kilograms… Do you manage to eat properly? When was the last time you eat or drank something in the last few days?"

"I… I try to… S-sometimes I j-just get r-really b-b-busy and forget to and the l-last time… I don't know a-about eating, b-but I had a cup of t-tea a few h-hours before I was c-captured b-by the s-slavers,"

This seems to be the wrong answer, because from where he sits by the foot of the bed, my leg is slapped by his clipboard, "You're still young, you need to eat to sustain yourself. There's no wonder you're so skinny… and _lacking_" his eyes focus on one part of my anatomy that is airport-runway flat, and I resist the urge to cover myself, restraining my arms from curling round m chest and tucking under my armpits by gathering the thin sheet on the cot between my fists .

"M-May I a-a-ask as to w-why you a-are asking me a-all t-t-this?"

"I am the sub's Doctor; this is standard procedure to those on board. I need to make a file for you in case of any injuries inflicted on yourself. Any allergies?"

I think my mouth has popped open in shock.

_He's the Doctor? This sadist is the submarine's Doctor? God help us all!_

He grabs my foot and pinches the sensitive skin along my ankle, making me yelp and refocus on his medical drabble, "I will not repeat myself more than once, Aiko-Ya. Do you have any allergies?"

"Peanuts and Sadistic Doctors…" I grumble bravely without my stutter.

That gets me a larger smirk; "Patient… seems to… have dev-el-oped a… smart… mouth" he says as he writes, with a little chuckle. "Now, there are two last things, where do you originate from, and what is your relationship with The Dark King?"

My brow creases at the latter name, so he clarifies; "Silvers Rayleigh? You seemed awfully friendly with him this afternoon."

"O-oh! … Er… It's a rather l-long story I'm afraid."

He grins cockily, "I think we can spare the time."

I sigh in defeat, "But k-knowing you, y-y-you won't believe w-what I tell you…"

"I can't judge effectively until I have heard your tale, Aiko-Ya."

"F-Fine. I w-warned you t-though." He nods so I continue, clearing my throat and relinquishing the stutter's hold on my voice box so that I don't have to stumble over each sentence; "Just o-over roughly twenty y-years ago, my M-mother found a h-hipflask on the way back f-from work. She t-took it up with her to her a-apartment and opened it, g-got hit by d-dust that itched her c-collar bone and formed a r-rash. O-over the next few d-days a Jolly Roger formed, and when it rained- w-w-w-when she came i-into contact with s-salted w-water, she f-fell into another d-dimension. She was found b-by Silvers Rayleigh, Gol D. Roger and their c-c-crew, and t-travelled intermittently with them o-over the next few years until o-one day s-s-s-she couldn't return t-to their world; t-this world."

I stop for a deep breath then delve back in again, "I told y-y-you how I f-f-found a book at my u-university last time right, and y-you didn't believe me. Does what I j-j-j-just told you make my s-story any stronger?"

His eyes flicker contemplatively.

"A-As for m-my relationship w-with Silvers R-Rayleigh… Well h-he and my Mother… Erm… He's m-my… _Father." _Law's eyes widen, and I believe that if he had been drinking something at the time, the beverage would have been spewed at me. "And you… You…" a hiccup rocks my torso and tears begin to fall in quick successive waves, "You took me a-away from him! I never e-even k-k-knew I had a Father u-until my Mum t-t-told me r-recently, and I o-only j-just found him! You took me a-away from him you b-bastard!" the sobs force my body to shudder and I draw my knees up to my chin as if to compactly hide from the Dark Doctor adjacent to me. This wearily continues for a few more minutes until the tears subside into soft whimpers, and a hand begins to rub my back. I can feel warmth radiating through the thin t-shirt I'm wearing, and it loosens the frightened curvature of my spine.

I look up to see that Trafalgar Law has shuffled up the narrow bed towards me, a frightened look on his face, "I'm not going to say I'm sorry for taking you away from him. There's always the possibility that we'll run into him sometime soon, and quite frankly, I only want to sate my curiosity. You intrigue me, did you know that? Don't cry, woman…I can't cope with crying women." He looks so bemused, the usual cock-sure expression he wears is demolished with a few tears, so to prologue his suffering despite the alarm bells going off in my head that prey should not usually get so close to the predator, I shuffle closer, burring my head into his black and yellow sweatshirt and grasping it between two tiny fists, faking a few heaving breaths and sniffles as I smile into the printed Jolly Roger across the chest of the garment, my vengeful smile hidden from his view. Unsure as to what to do, he gingerly wraps his arms around me and pats my back, the notions and his torso are rigid and measured, the actions foreign to him I guess.

"S-Sorry for l-losing it…" I say pulling away from him slightly but still encapsulated in his arms, "I t-think I-I've b-been needing t-t-to cry f-for a l-long t-time."

His face states that he never wants to have to comfort me _ever again_, and awkwardly he frumps "It's not good to bottle things up."

_I think I've got myself some good revenge right here…_

A knock at the door and three people charge in- Shachi, 'Penguin' hat boy and the polar bear, Bepo.

The former two blush at the sight of me wrapped in a loose embrace, and stutter an apology totally misunderstanding the situation, the bear however; "Huh, what are you doing Captain?"

_"Don't just ask outright!_" the other two subordinates cry at the bear.

"I'm sorry…"

_"So weak!"_

"Just consoling Aiko-Ya, as she was feeling unlike herself." He says stiffly. _Sure, you just keep telling yourself that. Remember I know your weakness now!_

"Oh." The bear says dully.

With a grunt, Law untangles his limbs from mine, loosening my hold on his article of clothing and promptly stands to leave the room. "I trust you will co-operate with me, AIko-Ya enough to allow me to give you free will aboard the sub?" I 'Hm' in reply, "Shachi, Penguin, I'm putting you in charge of making sure that Aiko-Ya is fed, watered and showered. You have permission to enter my quarters and use my clothes if nothing fits her. If she refuses to eat, force feed her." _She is right here, you know, _"Bepo, with me."

The polar bear trundles after him, and Shachi and Penguin (I should have known that was his name, I couldn't have been given a more obvious clue to be honest…) smile at me.

"Hello again," Shachi says and I slip him a small smile, "This is Penguin, we're the head mechanics of the Sub." He slaps his companion on the back.

"Let's get you some food, eh?" Penguin says, and I nod, slipping off the cot and following them to the kitchens.

I'm told to wait outside at and seat myself at a table in the empty mess hall, patiently twiddling my thumbs while they scour the kitchens for food, and return with several large lumps on their heads.

"W-what happened?" I ask concerned as a plate of mismatched food is set before me.

"Reni happened" Penguin growls, rubbing at one of the protrusions on his scalp.

"Reni- the chef, he gets protective of his kitchen. As you can see" Shachi clarifies, pointing at his head, and beaming like a gallant hero, "But we couldn't just leave you without food now, could we Penguin?"

"Oh no, just being a gentleman, doesn't matter I got beaten to a pulp by a man wielding a ladle and wearing a floral apron!"

I giggle at the two, which causes them to stop at a standstill and turn beet red at the sound.

"C-Cute!" Shachi clutches at his nose. Penguin isn't faring much better, and the two dash off leaving me to enjoy a smorgasbord of cold cooked meat, fruit slices and cubes of cheese.

I pick at the meal, nibbling delicately on a slice of apple, when a shadow looms over me, blocking most of the light.

"Hmmmm? So you are the girl Shachi and Penguin were so desperately vying to get food for eh?"

I make sure to swallow the chunk of apple I'd been chewing on before speaking, "I-I'm guessing y-your Reni t-then?" I reply to the stocky man in front of me wondering about his clashing appearance, the flowery apparel, styled hair but rugby player build.

"That'd be me" he says, taking a seat across the table from me and smoothing down his floral apron lovingly. "It's so nice to have another girl on board!"

"There are m-m-more women o-on the sub?" I ask, holding another chunk of fruit mid-air.

"No, we're an all-male crew. I'm…"

"Ah. I-I g-g-get you. Don't w-worry about it, I have a friend b-back home w-who is h-homosexual too."

He laughs, "We'll get along fine then. Where did those two idiots get off to, leaving you here all alone…" he brandishes a ladle out of nowhere, slapping it threateningly into his meaty palm.

"I g-giggled, and t-t-they shot off s-somewhere…"

Reni's anger multiplies; I can see the flames in his eyes now, "Those perverts, when I get hold of them-"

"W-what do y-y-y-you mean, 'perverts'?"

"Shachi and Penguin enjoy the _company_ of women; it doesn't take much to set them off."

"O-oh…" _I'm sorry for asking._

Our conversation is infiltrated by another, "Is that all you've had to eat so far, Aiko-Ya?" Law swoops up a cube of cheese and squashes the springy texture between his thumb and forefinger.

"I've o-only just s-started e-eating…" I try to justify but he's having none of it.

"Reni, can you sit there and make sure that that plate is empty before she is allowed to leave the mess hall?"

"Aye, Captain."

"I'll be back later, even if it takes all evening, I want that food gone Aiko-Ya" and without hearing my stuttered retort of _'You're not my mother!'_ he strides away back into some unknown compartment of the submarine.

I plop another piece of cheese into my mouth, spitting it out in an undignified manner as Reni says "He has such a nice arse…"


	11. Lost

**YooHoo!  
**

- An arbitrary adventure of the nautical variety -

* * *

**11. Lost**

* * *

_"The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries or the way she combs her hair."_

**_-Audrey Hepburn_**

* * *

After a further two hours of me slowly devouring the food on the plate and Reni having a natter and flashing me an encouraging smile every time I looked like I was going to throw up, Law finally returns, inspects what I've eaten (everything bar a few scraps of meat) grunts in approval and roughly takes my arm and pulls me away from the waving cook who collects my empty dish ad floats pack to his kitchen like an exocet- flower petal.

Which brings me back to the man pulling on my arm, "Mr Trafalgar…"

He ignores me and we keep moving, I try tugging my arm out of his grip but he's too strong, "Was it so hard no eating all of that food Aiko-Ya?"

"Mr Trafalgar!"

"Seriously Aiko-Ya you must be under nourished-"

"Let go of my arm Law!" I cry as his grasp tightens.

"Do no tell me what to do, Aiko-Ya. That would be a very dangerous game to play…"

I can't help but shiver, but it has me wondering, why the sudden change in demeanour, "I'm s-s-sorry, it's j-j-just that you w-were hurting my a-arm…" he lets go at once and beckons for me to follow him to his quarters.

"I didn't know you had hurt your arm, why did you not tell me earlier in the infirmary?"

"It d-d-doesn't matter, y-you were holding the place w-where the mark f-formed, and t-that's s-s-still tender"

He doesn't say anything, but hold open a door for me to step inside, cautiously observing an isolated bed, dresser and another door with due attention.

"You took so long to eat that Shachi and Penguin neglected their duties looking after you and had to return to their work in the engine bay. I am already rushed off of my feet without having to babysit you too." A towel is thrown at me and I fumble to catch it, "Through there" he gestures harshly to the other door in the room, "Is my private bathroom. I suggest you shower. Clothes will be left outside the door for you when you are done. Now if you'll excuse me, after I have sorted your clothes I will have business elsewhere to attend to."

"Ah… T-thank you…"

"Don't thank me yet, Aiko-Ya, you and I still need to finish our chat from this morning."

He wanders over to the dresser and pulls open a few draws, rooting thoroughly through items of clothing. Sensing his distraction, I use this opportunity to slip into the bathroom, locking the door behind me and undressing (thankfully not watched by Monkey D. Luffy's dreaded wanted poster) then switching on the shower and submerging under a luxurious spray of heated water.

Apart from a curious bottle of blue shower gel, there's not much else to wash my skin with other than the water, but that won't essentially make me feel _clean_. Sighing with no other choice, I scoop the gloopy substance into my open palms, and begin to lather it generously watching the bubbles amount.

It smells cool and fresh, like a masculine mix of cleanliness and mint, the vibrant scent filling my nostrils as I rinse the lather from my skin and observe dully as it washes away down the drain.

Almost reluctantly I turn off the water, grasping the towel and wrapping it round my tiny frame.

Tentatively, I unlock the door and peek around it when it opens, not wanting to venture out of the bathroom in such a vulnerable state of undress if Law is there. He isn't, and as he promised, clothes have been left in a pile by the door, directly next to my feet.

Cradling them in my arms, I retreat once more into his bathroom, bolting the door behind me again and swiftly trying to salvage my own clothes whilst deciding on whether to wear his or not.

A pair of jeans, a t-shirt, a sweatshirt and some boxers (I blushed at this point) had been left for me to wear.

Now, although I'm shy, I'm not a prude, and after being in the same clothes for well over twenty four hours, I knew I would have felt sticky climbing back into mine, so Law's clothes it is. Pulling the boxers and the jeans on, rolling them up several times as the legs are way to long for me, I snap my bra back on, pulling one of his t-shirts on, but choosing to keep the Heart Pirate branded t-shirt off for now, the shower heated my skin and warmth radiates through my body for now. I am lost within these clothes, despite his lean figure, the t-shirt swallows me whole, loosely falling to mid-thigh easily and encasing me twice when I try and wrap it round my apparent lack of curves.

Dragging a hand through my wet hair, I inspect myself in the small vanity mirror hung above the minuscule sink, staring at my reflection in deep confusion as to who I am anymore, and what I am doing here of all places. A part of me is still convinced that none of this is real, that I'm hallucinating, or something happened when I fell through the first puddle and I'm actually in a coma somewhere else, but my subconscious has taken me to fabricated existence like in a TV programme I once saw.

The right side of my face is blackened with a large bruise; dark expanses ring my eyes, contrasting with the lightened blue of my irises. The blonde colour of my natural hair is seeping through at the roots; I think that I will have to dye it again, because when my hair was dyed, something _changed_. I don't know whether for the greater good or not, but I feel that if I allow my natural blonde hair to overtake the dye, I'll lose a piece of my identity that has rapidly evolved and made Aiko Smith stronger than the weak willed lamb she once was.

A huge yawn splits my face, fully dressed now; I'm struggling as to what to do with my own clothes. Eventually, I settle on washing them through in the bathtub and setting them to dry along the shower curtain railing, before padding out of the room in a zombie-like fashion and collapsing on Law's bed.

At this point, I'm that tired that I couldn't give a flip as to what he thinks about me sleeping on his bed, and fall into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

After a busy day of running round after his subordinates, bickering with Bepo in the navigational room, bickering with Aiko over her eating habits, showing Aiko to his chambers and sorting out some clothing for her, rushing around making sure to check any issues notified to him by Bepo, Shachi, Penguin or Reni, Trafalgar Law finally returned to his quarters, not entirely expecting Aiko Smith to still be in there, nor clapped out on his bed for that matter either.

Shaking his head in disappointment, as he had wanted to further question the girl on her rather unusual circumstances, he enters his bathroom to refresh himself under the powerful spray of the shower only to be assaulted by another unexpected sight.

A dripping pair of faded jeans and a worn out t-shirt hang from the shower curtain rail, occasionally aiming water droplets at his feet, but what really makes him want to take a step back and run for the hills is a silken red pair of _panties_ with lace trimmings, also hanging precariously from the rail.

_Red eh? She struck me as more of one to where white… and safe underwear too, not that flimsy thing… _

Collecting the garments gingerly and placing them on the far edge of the bathtub where they won't get splashed, he showers methodically, not savouring the feel of the water like he usually does, for his mind is occupied otherwise.

_Who are you, Aiko-Ya… Who are you?_

He shuts off the water, shaking his hair like a canine- not wanting to wait for it to dry by itself or exert himself as to drying it with a towel, quickly dries off and dresses into some comfortable pyjama trousers, tiredly shuffling out of the room and shimmying the sheet from underneath the blue haired girl sharing his sleeping space, before slipping onto the bed himself and wrapping the fabric around the two of them..

He smirks when she mumbles in her sleep and rolls to snuggle into his side, catching the sight of her swept away in his clothes and the tang of mint emancipating from her skin.

_You're full of surprised, aren't you Aiko-Ya…_

Soon the exhaustion catches up with him, and he languidly trails a hand gently through her blue locks, waiting for sleep to claim him.

When it does, the two remain interlocked, both too tired to care about the connotations and misunderstandings they could wake up to the following morning, but instead enjoy the company of one another as they sleep side by side soundly throughout the night.


	12. Inharmonious

**YooHoo!**

- An arbitrary adventure of the nautical variety -

* * *

**12. Inharmoniousness**

* * *

_"Opposition brings concord. Out of discord comes the fairest harmony"_

**_-Heraclitus_**

* * *

_"I can't sit idly,_

_No I can't move at all!_

_I curse the name_

_The one behind it all"_

**_-'Discord', Eurobeat Brony_**

* * *

It had been interesting waking up beside someone after such an extended period of sleepless nights and tossing and turning fruitlessly through the sheets.

_Damnit Shachi…_ he growled internally as his subordinate knocked and hastily entered his room, before realising his insolent mistake of not waiting for permission to enter, discovering something altogether unexpected.

Trafalgar's eyes narrow at the man, who flushes awkwardly under his glare, "Get. Out."

The head mechanic leaves almost instantly.

He found that his growing infatuation with a certain someone had grown, her nondescript presence seemingly keeping the terrors that lurked in the far corners of his mind at bay. He'd slept well, confused when he awoke as to why he couldn't move his hand out of an entangled blue mass and why there was a light pressure on his right ribs, the sleep fogging his intelligence.

When she shifted closer, soft breaths tickling his bare skin, he refused to squirm away, and closed his eyes, deciding that just for once as the girl had magically made him sleep soundly after all these years, he would procrastinate from his Captain duties.

Until she woke up that is.

* * *

When I next wake up, smushed against what I identify as bare, tanned skin, I suck in a breath- ready to scream to the high heavens about perverts, rape and gosh knows what.

A hand gently working its way through my hair and the exhalation of a deep rumbling yawn make me question however what kind of situation I've woken up in. Scared, I push away from the person trapping me against their chest, to scrutinise them formally before yelling my head off for help or some form of divine assistance.

With the tenderest expression I have yet to witness on his face, Trafalagr Law languidly untangles a hand from my twined hair and rubs at his bleary eyes like a child.

When he notices my observation of his habitual morning routine, the gentle expression melts, uncovering a hardened façade and smirk I'm so use to encountering.

"Morning, Aiko-Ya."

"G-Good m-m-_morning…?"_ _I think? _Discreetly I run a hand against my leg, sighing internally in relief when I feel the rough woven fibres of the leopard spotted jeans he leant me. _How awkward would that have been I hadn't? And why isn't he wearing a shirt?!_

I roll away from him, nearly falling off the bed, and scramble to stand inelegantly, "Um… T-thanks for the c-c-c-clothes and t-the s-shower… I should… y-y-yeah… Reni…" I'm out of the room before he can stop me.

When I reached the mess hall, it was already buzzing with activity, I scouted Shachi and Penguin over in the corner, who waved at the sight of me. I tread carefully through the packed room- Reni wasn't kidding when the crew was all male. Not a female I sight, well except for me.

I endured wolf whistles and evaded gropes whilst wobbling towards the duo.

"Mornin' Aiko-san…" they chorus, not looking up from their plates of food.

"G-good m-m-morning…."

"Did you sleep well?" Shachi asks, sniggering a little.

I raise my eyebrow, questioning him.

"You and Captain sure looked close when I had to speak to him this morning" he shovels a forkful of food from his plate into his smirking mouth.

I blush in embarrassment, "It wasn't like that and you know it-"

"Wasn't like what?" Reni asks, placing a plate of toast and a small glass of orange juice in front of me, "There you go dear, I thought you might like something light seeing as you struggled to eat all of your meal yesterday"

"T-thank y-"

"Shachi walked in on her and Captain snuggling under the covers" Penguin takes a slurp from a white mug indignantly.

"_No_! You lucky beggar!" Reni elbows me.

"I told you it w-w-wasn't like that- I j-just fell a-a-a-asleep there after m-m-my shower and w-woke up with h-h-him next to me is a-all!"

"I'll have you know that was one of the best nights _'sleep' _I've ever had" Trafalgar states, taking the seat at the head of the table reserved for him and curls his lip up at the sight of my breakfast. _Does somebody not like bread? Oh what a _terrible _shame…_

The men around us who have overheard guffaw: choruses of _'I bet you did!' _and _'Wait, how old is she?' _plus one idiot who has the audacity to say _'Maybe Captain will share'_ float about the room.

Feeling heat rise in my cheeks again, I push my plate away from me, appetite duly lost.

"Oi, Aiko-Ya, you'd better finish that!" Law calls after me. Ignoring him, I storm to the only place I can actually find on this infernal contraption; the deck.

_I feel positively mortified. I knew it was asking for trouble when Reni mentioned that it was an all-male crew, but I didn't think…_

Walking over to the edge of the sub, I clamber onto the surrounding railings, swinging over my legs and letting the sea breeze whip my hair from behind my ears and about my face.

"Oi…"

"…"

"Answer me, Aiko-Ya."

"What?!"

He grounds his teeth together, "I don't like your tone."

"W-well, I d-don't like being h-here!"

"You know they didn't mean it, Aiko-Ya. They're only human- male humans, who have needs and desires too. You try sticking yourself on a ship full of women and see if you can cope at sea with them."

"I k-know that!"

"Really?" he snorts, "Because I don't think you do!"

"W-well you t-try being the target for o-once! Y-you act so s-suave, t-t-try putting y-yourself in m-my shoes!"

"Look, I can understand you might feel intimidated, but I trust my crew to control themselves. Now are you going to come back inside before I have to swallow my pride and force-feed you toast, or am I going to have to lock you out of here while you sulk, even though we're going to submerge soon."

That catches my attention, "Why? Where are y-you headed?"

"My my, curious little thing aren't you. We're going to the Marineford, Mugiwara's brother is scheduled to me executed within the next few hours, and I thought I might be so generous of me to lend a helping hand."

I snort, "Yeah, be-because you're k-known for y-your caring h-heart."

"I liked you better when you didn't speak back to me, Aiko-Ya."

A moment of silence, then:

"So are you coming back inside then?"

"I-I g-g-guess so… Sorry f-for flying o-off the handle again."

"Hm."

He moves to make his way back into the sub, turning his back to me, and I try to follow suit, I really really do, but before I can swing my legs back over the safe side of the railing, my grip is relinquished on the smooth bar-

"LAW!" I scream, and he turns sharply.

It's too late to do anything though, for I've fallen into the ocean blue.

* * *

When I first came back from their world, I resurfaced in a duck pond. Slightly more graceful but still perverse, I find myself plonked into the smallest of puddles; I recognise the area to be near Jan's café, and barefooted and tote-bag-less, I scamper gingerly on sensitive feet down the sunset lined road back towards the dorms.

I can only hazard a guess, but there must be some kind of link between what I take and leave when dimensions are hopped- if I don't have a direct contact with it, it's doesn't travel with me. _I wonder if that works with people too?_

There'd only be one way to find out, and as _delighted_ as I would be to have Mugiwara Luffy or Trafalgar Law step into my world and create havoc, thoughts drift to my dad; I haven't had much time to direct my thoughts that way, and it sickens me now that I am back here that he could be honestly worried about my whereabouts after Law's impromptu kidnapping.

_I need to call Mum… Shi- My phones back there! And my purse… What do I do now?_

* * *

Still trying to grasp the fact that he had a daughter, and rereading Rowena's letter, his vessel sailed smoothly against the waves to Amazon Lily.

_Ray,  
_

_How long I have waited to send this to you… Too long, I believe. _

_Damned ability packed in the last time I jumped, and I got stuck in my own world. Something good came of it however, and if you are reading this, it means she's found you._

_Our little one, Aiko Smith, born with your blonde hair and my eyes. She was so tiny, Ray. So fragile they said that she might not surive. But she did, I bet she inherited your Willpower. I could never have been happier the day she was born._

_She's a shy thing, but I'm trying to sort that- the blue hair, that's my fault, but I have no idea how she developed the stutter. It's better than it used to be though, so give her credit for that._

_I'm going to speculate and guess that something bad happened to Roger and Rogue, yes? About two months after I'd discovered I was pregnant with Aiko, I had a really bad feeling for a couple of days. It threw me off balance for a while. _

_Anyway, I know this is short, and doesn't make up for our lost time, but I never gave up hope- I was waiting for the day I could return, or Aiko could take my place. _

_I'm sorry I couldn't come back… but it's a sacrifice I am happy to make as long as you've finally met you're daughter._

_Attached with this letter should be photographs from every single year of Aiko's life. I know it's not much of a consolation for seeing her grow up yourself, but I had to make the best of the situation I had been given. _

_Forever and always yours,_

_Rowena_

_X_

Along with her printed note came a barrage of images, of Aiko through each stage of her life- from pregnancy scans to terrible-two's, pre-teen to the present, it was all documented for him.

_Rowena always way a meticulous worker…_

He flipped through the pictures once more, with a crafty sip from his hip flask, relinking his memories, just as the storm and the sea king hit and he had to abandon ship and everything in it.

* * *

I'd chickened out on asking Gary for his mobile- for a start, I had no idea on where he was situated in the campus dorms. Using the public payphone was out of the question too; one because I didn't have the loose change for it, and two because it wouldn't be prudent of me to stand in public squealing about how I found my father in another dimension.

With no other option, I ended up firing a quick email in my Mothers direction, stating that I had found Dad and had no time to talk because I had to jump again and retrieve my belongings.

Flinging on a pair of random canvas pumps, I'm running out of the dorms and down the road, ignoring the protests of the people I ran into in my haste to get to the park before it closes just after twilight.

My best bet to getting back their world would be to jump into the duck pond, as strange as it sounded, because all of the bodies of water had magically evaporated, much to my dismay.

I sprint past the park warden, about to close the wrought-iron gates for the night-

"OI! STOP!" but his yells are pointless, I am a woman possessed, my legs on autopilot, dragging my body closer and closer to the pond until I run out of land, dancing across the water for a few steps until my body sinks into nothingness.

* * *

He'd swam the rest of the way to island, desperate to catch up to Mugiwara and offer him a chance to become stronger. He hadn't expected her to be washed up on the shore line alongside him with Trafalgar Law and his crew huddled around her.

"Aiko!" he cried worriedly, rushing though the mass of pirates to his only like to Rowena.

"Silvers-Ya, she's fine! Just a little out of it." Trafalgar murmurs.

"Mrrr…" she grumbles, eyes snapping open.

"You gave us all a scare there, Aiko-Ya. Does this happen often when you jump?"

"Mmm… E-every time… I-I hope y-you f-feel a-appreciated, I j-j-jumped into a d-d-d-duck pond to g-get back h-here."

"Why go to such lengths?" the young supernova questions, amused by her actions.

"M-my stuff i-is all here… P-plus I still n-need to clear t-things up with dad."

"Nice to see you've noticed me here!" Rayleigh chuckles, squatting and patting the drenched girl on the head.

"_He's your dad?!" _Trafalgar's crew squeals, many passing out from shock.

"Yeah…" she says dumbly like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"You and I are going to have a serious chat later on," Silvers Rayleigh says, adopting the standard _'Don't question my authority, I'm your father' _tone.

"I k-know."

"I'll leave this in your capable hands, Trafalgar-san. I've got to catch up with Mugiwara and offer my condolences… He is on this island right?"

"Yes, Silvers-Ya."

Rayleigh goes to move, but a small hand around his calf roots him to the spot, "E-even if I h-happen to j-jump u-unexpectedly, r-remember, w-we h-have all t-t-the time i-in the w-w-world to c-catch up."

"I know, sweetheart. I know."

With a smile, she releases his leg, and he goes about his business.

* * *

Whilst Law sends someone aboard the sub to fetch my belongings, the two of us wander down the coastline, and I ask what I missed after I'd fallen from the railings of his sub.

"Mugiwara's brother managed to escape, but then decided to revolt against the authorities. He unfortunately lost his life, and Mugiwara nearly followed that fate if I hadn't intervened and healed him back up."

"T-that's… s-s-s-so sad…" unshed tears make my eyes glisten. Noticing that I'm about to cry, he curls a palm around one of my own, squeezing it encouragingly, hoping that he'll never have to see my shed tears again. Even with our inharmonious personalities, a mutual understanding is established through innate body language; I don't cry and he'll hold my hand like a sap in front of his crew until I've calmed down.

"When you fell from those railings… what was going through your mind?"

"… Well… I k-knew I was g-g-g-going to j-jump, but th-there's a-always something i-in the b-b-back of my mind t-telling me I'll d-drown, it's j-just a natural i-instinct, I g-guess. I'm going t-to h-have to live the rest of my life in f-fear of salt w-w-water, until I c-can no longer p-p-physically jump, o-or the a-ability is p-passed on t-t-to my descendants…"

My brow creases in thought, and I kick at the sound below my feet, watching as the wind whisks it away.

"Why did you… no never mind."

"W-what? T-tell me please?"

"I was going to ask why you called for me, but it doesn't specifically mean anything-"

"When m-my Mother f-f-f-first crossed into t-this world, she b-b-bore the mark o-of the Roger pirates. I c-carry your Jolly Roger on m-m-my arm. It would be i-i-idiotic of me n-not to notice that whenever I c-c-cross the dimension, I a-always e-end up i-in the same vicinity as y-you. I am c-connected to y-you not only b-b-by your f-fate, bu-but by the ocean l-landscape, t-the rain that f-falls from the s-sky, and the p-p-puddles that c-collect on the l-land."

"I never knew you could be so poetic Aiko-Ya-"

"Hush, I w-wasn't d-done yet-"

"Don't-"

"'_T-tell m-me what to d-d-do_'? Yes I k-know… Despite th-the fact that you scared m-m-me; and y-you still d-do, I'm stuck w-with you no m-m-matter what. It would b-be foolish o-of me n-not to put s-some tr-trust in you, n-no?"

He mulls over this for a while, a sly grin curving on his lips, "I scare you, huh?"

"Y-yes?" I begin to panic, not liking where this is going, and begin to jog down the beach away from him.

"Get back here Aiko-Ya!" he yells, sprinting after me.

"N-Never!" I increase my speed.

We fly across the sands, playing a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse (well for me anyways), until I trip over a piece of driftwood by the tide and a wave promptly devours me-

"Law!"

* * *

Resurfacing again in a shallow tub of water, I sputter intelligibly, wondering where the hell I'm at now, and whether one day I can control the sporadic nature of hopping from one dimension to another.

I quickly scan the surroundings; pale white bathroom suite, black towels, steaming saltwater bath, leopard print bathrobe-

_Salt water and leopard print? Oh gods no- Please no!_

The bathroom door swings open, and in struts Gary's nemesis, the male with the leopard print fetish.

_I'm going to wring your neck the next time I jump; mark my words Trafalgar, mark my words…_

"What are you doing in my bathroom?" he asks, striding forward to clasp onto my arm, but too quick for him, I duck back under the water, dissipating into crystalline liquid and flowing away across the boundaries of worlds.

**Fin**


	13. Authors Note

**YooHoo!**

- An arbitrary adventure of the nautical variety -

* * *

**Authors Note**

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**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece, all rights go to Eiichiro Oda, and the companies that air and publish the anime, manga or sell related merchandise. Any items marked with a '©' I also do not own, all rights go to the respective owners of the item. I do however own my OC's (In order of appearance) Aiko Smith, Gary, Rowena Smith, Jan, The leopard print fetish guy and Reni, along with menial extras like the lecture classmates and the professor conducting poetry lectures.

* * *

**Hello all!**

**Did you enjoy my early Easter gift to you?**

**I've been writing this sucker for over several weeks now whenever I got the chance, which explains why Break a Leg~! has been plonked on the back seat for a while now. Over the last few days because of Easter Half Term, I've managed to fit in a burst of writing and gotten it finished.**

**I've always liked One Piece, because although it's like every other Shōnen manga out there (the protagonist fighting alongside their Nakama; for the sake of their Nakama; for what they believe in) the concept is drastically different, the characters are well thought out and have quirky traits of their own that you can't help but love. **

**You can't even begin to imagine how many times I've rethought what happens on Aiko's adventure. Heck, Aiko wasn't even going to be called Aiko at the start. She would have been a Sarah, something mundane to go with her mundane life. Then it got upgraded to Lorelai, something more exotic and hinting towards the sea. **

**Aiko's adventure also began in Shells Town, trailing after the Straw Hat crew. But that changed drastically, and did everyone like my decision to lumber Rayleigh into this? Just going to say as well, that everyone needs a camp Gary in their life.  
**

**I'm sorry if there are a few mistakes. Like I do with all of my fics, I proofread them myself, and sometimes I will miss something, no matter how meticulous I am. (Also I'm just itching to get this posted!)**

**I'd like to say a thank you to my friend who we shall label as 'Kera' (Yes, you know who you are…) for keeping me calm when I messaged her about my world limit exceeding what I wanted it to originally be by miles (10,000 was the target but that doubled… I've made so much work for myself…) YooHoo! Was also originally going to be published as one long length of prose, but I know how strenuous that can be on the eyes, and as the story grew longer, I decided to chop it up into bite-sized chapters instead.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading YooHoo! I hope you enjoyed my first attempt at a One Piece fic. Don't hesitate to drop me a PM or a review- I like to know what you're thinking! :3**

**Hoping you all have a good Easter,**

**-Yuilhan**

* * *

Thank you to **10th Squad 3rd Seat** for picking out some mistakes I hadn't noticed when proofreading!

And thanks to all of you who have read YooHoo! in the short space of time that it has been posted; I checked my stats and well 607+ views for being uploaded only for two days? Man you've all made my day~!

* * *

**PLAYLIST FOR THIS ONE SHOT:**

**(Chapter by Chapter…)**

**1. Nutty**

"Rather be" – Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne

"YooHoo!" – Secret

"Five colours in her hair" - McFly

**2. Thief**

"Toumei Answer" – IA

"Kagerou Daze" – Hatsune Miku

**3. Gary**

"Whimsical Stardom" – Rib

"Catallena" – Orange Caramel

**4. Puddle Jumper**

"Adventurous Girl & Miniature Garden Game" - CosMo feat Hatsune Miku

"Renai Yuusha" – GUMi (Produced by Last Note)

**5. Submarine**

"Go! Go! Ghost ship!" – Hachioji-P

"Despair: A Hero's Treatment" – Soraru (Dangan Ronpa endning)

**6. Doctor Doctor…**

"Bad case of loving you" – Robert Palmer

"Akatsuki Arival" – Hatsune Miku and Megurine Luka (Produced by Last Note)

**7. Mother**

"Brother" –Fullmetal Alchemist Original Soundtrack

"Postcards from Italy" – Beirut

"Only if for a night" – Florence + the Machine

"Seasonal Feathers" – Kagamine Rin and Len

**8****. ****Green Tea and Bubble Bath preferences**

"Walkie-talkie Man" – Steriogram

"Laboratory" – GUMi and Kagamine Rin

**9.****Sabaody Archipelago**

"Kaimu" – ONE OK ROCK

"Deadline Circus" – Gumi, Kagamine Len and Kamui Gakupo (Produced by Last Note)

"The Lost One's weeping" – Kagamine Rin

**10.****Sadist**

"I know" – Tom Odell

"Fever" – The Black Keys

**11. ****Lost**

"Addicted to you" – Avicii

"Thriller" – BTOB

**12****. ****Inharmonious **

"Yes" – Acid Black Cherry


	14. Omake 1: Awkwardness in the med-bay

**YooHoo!**

- An arbitrary adventure of the nautical variety -

* * *

**Omake 1. Awkwardness in the med-bay…**

* * *

_"No good decision was ever made in a swivel chair."_

**_― George S. Patton Jr._**

* * *

**Synopsis:** Takes place during **Chapter 10. Sadist**, this is a more awkward drabble between Akiko and the Dark Doctor when he asks some more… _a-hem_, personal questions! **Be warned for there are suggestive themes…**

* * *

On finding me awake, Law had pulled up a swivel chair beside the cot, grasped a clipboard and a pen and bombarded me with medical questions. He'd scrutinised my height, age and scarily so my weight, concern uncharacteristically dripping from his face as he basically told me to eat like I never had before just in case I became borderline anorexic overnight. The harsh glint in his eyes made sweat nervously trickle down my back, because that look undoubtedly meant _'I'm watching you' _and _'Don't think I won't force-feed you if needs be'_. It honest truth, even if I didn't exactly want to cooperate with him, he was a doctor, and well, he knew what he was talking about. I wanted to be stubborn but I don't think I'd be able to handle physical abuse from food and tableware at every meal time because of him- I might not have the best appetite for the most part, but when it counts I can really indulge. The last I had done so was before I set off to Uni and my mother and I went to a boutique café and splurged on miniature cakes. Of which I ate about twelve, and regretted it instantly when the rich sponge and luxurious lashing of varied buttercreams and jams all wanted to hurtle back up into my gullet simultaneously.

"Aiko-Ya? I won't ask again, Aiko-Ya…" I realise then that I've been spacing out again, and face the wrath of Law's narrowed eyes peering over the top of the clipboard like a total creeper.

"I-I'm sorry!" I yelp, "C-c-c-could you r-repeat t-t-t-that p-please?"

"I said _'Are you involved in any sexual relationships?_'" he says in a bored monotonous voice, idly tapping the pen against his spindly jean clad knee, resting one leg crossed over the over and sprawling over the seat of the chair to the surrounding area. He looks like a humanoid leopard print spider; just ready to bite you and enjoy watching you squirm as the venom courses round your body-

"Wh-What kind of q-q-q-question is t-t-that?!" _I'm feeling a little violated, surely he doesn't need to ask me about this, right?_

"An important one, what if you needed contraceptive medications? I don't need a pregnant adolescent on my sub; I already have enough burdens…" I growl lowly at being called a thorn in his lithe side.

"No I'm n-not!" I defend my honour, feeling hot colour pool into my cheeks with such a difficult topic to converse about.

"Have you ever partaken in sexual intercourse?" he says grimly.

"N-no!"

He raises his eyebrows in mock humour, "Nineteen and no action, are you a late bloomer?"

"T-that's not for you t-to know! And w-with my u-u-upbringing, I w-was told to wait un-until I was o-older or until m-marriage…"

"A noble cause, eh?"

"…P-plus the s-small fact t-t-that no o-one w-w-w-would be in-interested a-anyways…" I say almost inaudibly. If it weren't for my long hair and obviously feminine voice, I could probably pass for a member of the male persuasion which obviously does not work well in my favour in the relationships department. Not that I'd want a boyfriend just yet, I promised my mother that instead of becoming a wild child I would be studying hard and earning a degree much to her dismay. I'm as flat as an airport runway, which makes me look about twelve, again not an obvious sign to be attracted to unless I happen to run into a paedophile anytime soon. _With the way things are going, perhaps I could sue Law for sexual harassment… Hmmm it's tempting… Do they even have law firms here?_

"I'm sure there's someone waiting out there for you, Aiko-Ya" I roll my eyes at his humorous attempt. He chuckles and scribbles something down, leans back on his chair then does one quick revolution, stretching out his arms and legs. I'm surprised he didn't knock into anything with how lengthy his limbs are, or fall off of his chair. That would have officially made my day, karma perhaps for all these _lovely _questions he's been asking me- standard procedure my arse, it's just another way for him to torture me I'm sure; it must be commonly known that he has sadistic tendencies- and if he's not careful I purposely capsize his chair in retribution!

"Okay, last few awkward questions now Aiko-Ya… Are you pregnant?" _How is he keeping a straight face through all of this? Is it part and parcel of being a doctor or is he truly not flustered? _

"How c-can I be i-if I haven't h-h-had s-s-sex?!" _Seriously, is this going to keep happening? What was he expecting me to say, 'Yes' then explain just how the bloody Christmas miracle occurred; 'Oh yes Law, I'm having a child through divine intervention, don't you worry about me now, I'm feeling totally spiffy with this good news that I'm now a scientific freak show you want to 'experiment' on'…_

"There's no need to be snappy, Aiko-Ya, it's just a precautionary procedure. For all I know, you could have been having a child through artificial insemination, and that would explain the lack of intercourse." He says matter of factly, "Now, should I be aware of any sexually transmitted diseases you may be carrying?" _Really?! Really Law?! Must you ask me that? I think it would be painfully obvious that I don't considering the previous answers I've just given you._

I must have pulled a face because he scowls and growls lowly; "Just answer the question Aiko-Ya."

"No! I-I d-d-don't!"

Flipping over to my stomach on the rickety cot, I groan into the wafer thin pillow wishing all this awkwardness would go away.

* * *

**PLAYLIST FOR THIS OMAKE:**

"Love Logic" – Mayu (Produced by Daniwell)


	15. Omake 2: Daddy's chat

** YooHoo!**

- An arbitrary adventure of the nautical variety -

* * *

**Omake 2. Daddy's chat**

* * *

_"When I was twenty-something, I asked my father, "When did you start feeling like a grownup?" His response: "Never.""_

**_― Shannon Celebi_**

* * *

**Synopsis**: The chat between Aiko and Rayleigh that was never published…

* * *

After my impromptu dabble at jumping between worlds and narrowly avoiding conflict on both sides- leopard print fetish freak and Law presumably going to be breathing down my neck when I returned, I found myself washed up far away from any potential massacre scene the Dark Doctor could inflict on my poor pitiful self.

Coughing a wad of bitter sea water out of my mouth as the tide hurled me up onto shore, _again _might I add; I clambered unsteadily to my feet and began to wander inland.

"Aiko?" I whip round to the location of the voice.

"Father?"

"What happened to you?" he says scrutinising my soaked clothes. I notice two others next to him, one wrapped severely in bandages and a giant _fish man?!_

"L-Law chased me; I t-t-t-ripped, fell in the w-water, w-woke up in s-s-someone's bathtub u-until they ca-came in and then j-j-j-umped back…" I say idly, like it was the most common of things. I guess it is becoming second nature to me now- jumping between dimensions that is, not waking up in strange places; no, that's really starting to weird me out.

"You woke up in someone's bathtub…?" the giant fish states.

"I thought you needed salt water to jump- Rowena always said she did, so I presume you do too?" Rayleigh-_Father (it still feels really weird calling him that…)_

"…I-I k-know of s-s-someone who b-bathes in s-salt w-water…" _Leopard print fetish man… _

The three stare at me blandly, deciding not to comment until my father clears his throat, "I never introduced you did I? Jinbe, Luffy, this is my daughter, Aiko."

"…" Jinbe says nothing, but gives me a begrudging nod.

Mugiwara however, in his heavily bandaged state and the motif of his straw hat hanging about the back of his neck, jumps up and points at my sea drenched form "Ah! You're that girl from Sabaody!"

_Didn't your mother ever tell you it was rude to point at people?_

"H-H-Hello a-again…" _I'm trying really hard not to think of all the times his poster has watched me changing in my dorm room… why is he still staring?! It's freaking me out!_

Dad clears his throat again, clasps my arm and starts to drag me away from there, "Think about my offer will you Mugiwara, and Jimbe make sure to keep an eye on him, Trafalgar will go on the war path is he tears his stiches." I shudder at the thought of an angry Law. "So we never got to have that chat eh, Aiko?"

"L-Law-Uh! _Mr T-Trafalgar_ dragged m-m-me away b-b-before w-we could a-and then I-I-I jumped a-and-"

"It's okay I understand that this is going to a frequent happening. I'm used to it with your mother."

"D-did she j-j-j-jump often then?"

"The day we found her, we'd just left from Water 7" _And I have no clue as to where that is y'know… _"We'd had a ship built, the _Oro Jackson_… by a _friend _of ours you could say. Him doing so landed him in a bit of trouble-" he pinches his thumb and index finger together in a minimising motion and unease squirts through my veins. _More like a lot of trouble, huh?_ "We'd embarked; Roger was prating around with a spy glass, and suddenly shouts that there's something bobbing about in the water. I took a look but saw nothing. Dismissed it as a sea king or something. Roger babbled on about it being a human, but nothing resurfaced so we let it be. Found out when she told us about the ability it was your mother who Roger had spotted."

_So mum left out the detail where she surfaced in the ocean before she jumped to an island then… maybe because she was in the water for too long, the same thing happened with me in the bath- I could use the same body of water to jump with. I'm guessing she didn't want me to know she messed up her first jump, or just wanted to tell me how she met dad… hmm…_

"Anyways, at the next island we docked at, which was uninhabited- can't for the life of me remember its name in my old age-" he scratches his head, "-Had us stumbling upon your mother. She literally threw herself out of the greenery and down the beach towards us. Roger always had a soft spot for women, heck he doted on Rouge- would have also doted on Ace if he'd been around to meet him and if his son was still… _still alive_… Mah, there's a saying that its bad luck to have a woman on-board a ship, but be damned if Roger cared, he invited Rowena on board- couldn't leave a pretty lookin' lady all alone on a dangerous island after all. The rest as they say is history."

"I-I'm c-c-curious… H-h-how old is _'I-In my old a-a-age'?"_

"Ah… I'm nearing my golden years for sure…"

"M-mum's in h-h-her mi-mid forties and y-your nearing s-s-sixty?!"

"She did mention the age gap, no?" he slips a silver flask out of his cloak and takes a swig unabashedly.

"Y-Yes! B-But I d-d-d-didn't think it w-was _that _large!" he shrugs dismissively.

"Oi! Aiko-Ya!" _Oh great, that's all I need…_ My father watches from the corner of my eye as I quiver lightly.

"H-Hello, L-La-Uh! Mr Trafalgar…"

A large pile is shoved into my arms when he reaches us, which I recognise to be my bag and shoes. "There's no need for formalities Aiko-Ya, just call me Law or _captain_. Your stuff." He flashes me a dangerous smirk.

"…T-Thank you!" I squeak.

"It's no problem Aiko-Ya, you said you wanted them back, and I wanted them off my sub if you're going to be flipping back and too unpredictably. Can't have you blaming me for your negligence can we?" He smirks again and I shudder.

"Oi-Oi" My father states, staring the pirate captain down, "It's not an ability to be laughed at, the day Rowena got lost overboard in a freak storm had me worried sick- you just wait until you've witnessed it first-hand then try laughing!" Law looks slightly ashamed, an uncharacteristic grimace on his face.

"H-He 'kinda a-a-already has…" Dad shifts his gaze to mine questioningly, "I-I-I slipped o-off the subs r-r-railing a-and h-h-he couldn't g-get th-there to s-s-s-stop me q-quick enough…"

"I was merely caught off guard Aiko-Ya. I'm also not going to be there to catch you when you fall every time." _Sure whatever helps you sleep at night…_

"You and I need a little _chat _I think" Dad says, roughly clapping an arm around Law's shoulders and pulling him away down the beach. _Oh not a good sign, Law's sweating… Uh-oh, attack of the livid father!_

"I t-t-thought you wanted t-to catch u-up w-w-with me?!" I say desperately trying to separate the two, knowing that Law will extract his revenge later on because of my influence over my _Daddy…_

"I can later; we've got all the time in the world sweetheart! Plus Mr Trafalgar and I need to have a _man's talk_ if you're going to be trailing his journey when you jump."

_Run for your life Law! Run while you still can!_

* * *

**PLAYLIST FOR THIS OMAKE:**

"Again" – Yui (Acoustic version)


End file.
